GAO’s UKRAINE SMEAR

[Published on Newsmax]

The anti-Trump chorus is breathlessly declaring the January 16, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report asserts “Trump broke the law” regarding Ukraine aid. 

That is not what the report states and that is not what happened.

The GAO serves a vital oversight function for the Federal Government.  Annually, GAO reports on waste, fraud, and mismanagement identify billions of dollars in potential savings. The Agency studiously avoids politics by outlining procedural and legal compliance issues.

GAO Report B-331564 is different, as it is incomplete on facts while overstating the Trump Administration’s noncompliance with a controversial law.

The report never admits that the Ukraine Aid in question was, in fact, released on September 11, prior to the deadline of September 30, 2019.

This omission is fundamental to the entire Ukraine matter and undermines GAO’s credibility.

The GAO report centers on the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). This was passed as part of Congress reining-in President Richard Nixon.  Nixon had impounded funds for many programs and agencies to counter Congressional spending sprees.  His actions continued a long-standing practice, going back to Thomas Jefferson, of Presidents exercising fiscal discipline to thwart Congressional overspending.

https://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/2015/04/budget-battles.html?m=0

The Congress took advantage of Nixon’s ebbing power by pushing through the ICA and other legislation to open the spending flood gates.  Discretionary spending has ballooned out of control ever since.

Presidents, Republican and Democrat, have attempted to restore the balance in budgeting and spending policy.  The GAO’s Ukraine report cites numerous court cases where Clinton and other Presidents have sought court assistance to set limits and clarify processes.

All funds were released prior to the Congressional deadline.  The delay in releasing Ukraine funds never crossed these legal lines. 

In fact, the delays fully complied with the law authorizing the funds (PL 115-232), as it explicitly stated that, “In order to obligate more than fifty percent of the amount appropriated, DOD was also required to certify to Congress that Ukraine had taken ‘substantial actions’ on defense institutional reforms’”.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued numerous “apportionment schedules” with footnotes explaining the delay in releasing the funds was to “allow for an interagency process to determine best use of such funds”.  Each memo consistently stated that, “this brief pause in obligations will not preclude DOD’s timely execution of the final policy direction.”

One part of the foreign military financing (FMF) earmarked for Ukraine was delayed only six days.

The GAO Ukraine report, clearly states that:

“The President may temporarily withhold funds from obligation—but not beyond the end of the fiscal year in which the President transmits the special message—by proposing a “deferral.”  2 U.S.C. § 684”

At no point in the Ukraine Report does the GAO find that OMB or the President triggered a deferral or impoundment.  Therefore, there was no violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA).

However, the GAO pours through countless memos from the OMB, as well as OMB responses to GAO questions.  Unfortunately, OMB’s responses dug avoidable holes into which the Trump Administration fell by raising needless challenges to the ICA.

OMB engaged in a battle it did not need to fight.  This triggered GAO having to recount the ICA battles from other Administrations and pointing out the flaws in OMB’s arguments.  OMB responded by not responding.  As the GAO-OMB dialogue dissipated, political rhetoric seeped-in.

The GAO stepped over their line by asserting there may be “potential impoundments” where none exist.  You either impound or you don’t.  There is no “potential”. The GAO ascribes “policy reasons” for the delay of funds without providing any evidence. 

Finally, to carve out its own place in the Impeachment, the GAO violated decades of its own professional code of conduct by declaring, “We consider a reluctance to provide a fulsome response to have constitutional significance”.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a dedicated Never-Trumper, requested the GAO Ukraine report on October 30, 2019.  He kept demanding GAO provide a report sooner versus later in a letter dated December 23, 2019.  The GAO admits that its report is a work in progress and states it is waiting on additional information from the State Department and OMB. 

Unfortunately, Thomas Armstrong, GAO General Counsel, was willing to risk the agency’s reputation as the gold standard of oversight, by prematurely releasing an incomplete and flawed report, immediately relegating it to just another politically charged smear.

COMMITTEES MATTER

“CONSTITUTING AMERICA” SERIES ON CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY

Since the Roman Senate, there has always been a need for a smaller group of Members to focus on details before actions are considered by the entire assembly. This is a better use of time, as Members are not equally interested or versed in every topic under consideration.

Committees to support the legislative process in America’s colonies started in the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1642.

The drafting of America’s Declaration of Independence was the act of a committee.

On May 15, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously passed a resolution calling on all thirteen colonies to form governments representing colonial interests independent of the British Crown. Congress then authorized the drafting of preamble explaining the reasons for and purposes of this action. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a “Committee of Five” to draft this “declaration”. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman were appointed.

The work of the “Committee of Five” was presented to the Congress on June 28 and, after spirited debate, was adopted on July 2, 1776. The approved Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

After the Revolutionary War, and the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, newly elected Senators and Representatives quickly formed committees to support their legislative duties.

On April 2, 1789, the first House committee was established to “prepare and report” on rules and procedures.

On April 7, 1789, the first Senate committee was formed to establish rules of procedure. By 1816 the Senate had eleven standing committees, many of which operate to this day.

The formation of the House committee on Ways and Means, on July 24, 1789, marked Congress’ implementation of its most important relationship with the Executive Branch.

“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

- U.S. Constitution; Article 1; Section 9

The “Consequences of Appropriations” is how representative government holds the Executive Branch in check. In the earliest days of the United States, unelected functionaries, all owing their positions to political patronage, had to be held accountable to Americans. Only through elected Senators and Representatives in “oversight” hearings could these public officials be reminded that their loyalty was to the law and Americans citizens, not just to the President.

Congressional Hearings are conducted to put actions and information on the public record.

Senators and Representatives use hearings to expand from focusing on legislative details to exposing and communicating facts.

Ideally, a Congressional hearing is well-scripted theater. Executive Branch officials work with Committee staff to prepare for publicly sharing information. When the hearing convenes, everyone knows their role. Witness testimony, followed by questions and answers, clarify intent of laws, explain programmatic and policy matters, and explore solutions. The outcome is action that supports passage of legislation or funding for government operations.

Majority and minority members of the Committee have equal time to speak and pose questions to witnesses. Depending on the issue, non-government experts, and at times, average citizens, may be witnesses, sharing their insights and experiences to illuminate the impacts of a given issue.

As government expanded, Congress needed help with its oversight. In 1921, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) was formed. It was later renamed the Government Accountability Office, using the same acronym – GAO.

The GAO’s accounting and management experts review how Americans’ tax dollars are spend, or misspent. Every year hundreds of investigative reports, filled with hundreds of recommendations are sent to the Congress. These reports support oversight hearings where Congressional committees hold public officials accountable and launch legislative efforts to curb abuse and facilitate efficiency.

That is how it is supposed to have worked.

Unfortunately, most Senate and House members find government oversight “boring”. Unless there is a headline-grabbing scandal, few news outlets cover improper payments, operational duplication, or mismanagement leading to wasteful spending.

This is unfortunate. In 2017, implementing just 52% of the 724 GAO management recommendations saved taxpayers $178 billion. During the final years of the Obama Administration, only 29% of the GAO’s recommendations were implemented.

Annually, the GAO, and the 73 independent Inspectors General within the Executive Branch, publish over 8,000 reports identifying approximately $650 billion in waste.

In the past, Appropriations Committees met to build the case for spending public funds. Administration witnesses made their case for spending. Appropriation Committee Members made their alternative case, opposing or supporting what the Administration witnesses proposed. Oversight reports and hearings guided spending and reforms.

What should occur is a dialogue designed to align Congressional intent, and Executive Branch actions. Representative government is fundamental to validating public spending.

What should emerge is legislation filled with spending numbers. Supporting these numbers should be a narrative, in the public hearing record and committee reports, building a compelling case for how and why public finds are being spent, or not spent.

None of this happen anymore. Few, if any Appropriation bills pass. Concurrent Resolutions or Omnibus spending bills are generated at the last moment to meet spending deadlines. Political expediency, not representative government, drives the legislation.

In 2015, there were 128 House Appropriation hearings prior to marking-up legislation. In 2016 there were only 88. The House listened to 253 Administration witnesses, but only seven of the 73 Inspector Generals. No one from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was involved. No one from private oversight groups, documenting government waste and abuse, were heard.

It gets worse. In the 1980s and 1990s, Appropriation hearings lasted three or more hours. Hearings in 2016 averaged 77 minutes. When you factor in the opening remarks from the Chair and Ranking Member and the opening statement of the main witness, less than 25 minutes were devoted to questioning witnesses at each hearing. Very few Members attend or participate.

House Committees broadcast their hearings online and archive them as podcasts. None of the 47 Senate Appropriation hearings were broadcast or archived. The public only knows that three Inspector Generals appeared, and there was no one from the GAO or government watchdog groups. The public remains uninformed as to what 121 Senate witnesses had to say beyond the text of their prepared remarks. Senators’ questions are also a mystery.

Congressional hearings, the embodiment of representative government, are deteriorating. This undermines the carefully crafted balancing of powers in the U.S. Constitution.

Representative government means its elected officials must do their duty. Even “boring” management oversight is important, especially to taxpayers concerned about how their hard earned money is spent.

[Scot Faulkner advises corporations and governments on how to save billions of dollars by achieving dramatic and sustainable cost reductions while improving operational and service excellence. He served as the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also served on the White House Staff, and as an Executive Branch Appointee.]

BUDGET BACCHANAL 2015

Also published at http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/budget-bacchanal-2015/article/2571132 and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/budget-bacchanal-scot-faulkner?trk=prof-post


The biggest fiasco of the year is about to occur. No, it is not a Presidential debate. It is the travesty of the budget battle for Fiscal 2016.


The budget battle will begin in earnest after Labor Day. Republicans will take things to the brink without a strategy or preparing their case for frugality. This is a recipe for disaster.


Republicans have been in charge of the entire Legislative Branch since their landslide victory on November 4, 2014. When Members of Congress adjourned for their five-week August Recess not one Appropriation Bill had passed. The House had passed only six of the required twelve Appropriation bills. The Senate had not taken one vote. After eight years of telling voters Republicans could govern better than Democrats the budgetary results are actually worse.


When Congress reconvenes on September 8, 2015 it will have only ten legislative days to avoid a government shut down or continuing resolution. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also formally requested another raise in the Debt Ceiling. What have they been doing for nine months?


So far there has only been posturing about defunding federal support of Planned Parenthood and somehow punishing the Environmental Protection Agency for its obtuse overreach. The collective fiscal impact of these actions is microscopic. No Republican, not even any of the Presidential candidates, is offering real solutions to reining-in rampant government spending and debt.


At the same time, federal agencies are proceeding with their annual rite of spending over a third of their budgets in the last three months of the fiscal year. Each year, potential savings evaporate in an orgy of expedited procurements and questionable spending during the mad dash to spend every penny before midnight on September 30. No efforts at frugality here; agencies would rather guard their budgetary turf than save money for taxpayers.


Even Tony Scott, Obama’s Chief Information Officer for the Executive Branch, has called out his colleagues declaring the year end spending binge, “a mad dash to load up the shopping carts”. No Republican has raised their voice against year-end spending. Holding agencies to spending only 25 percent of their funds in the 4th quarter would save $105 billion a year.


It gets worse – the brinksmanship over spending and raising the debt ceiling ignores a set of mind boggling facts.

• Nearly a trillion dollars in unobligated funds are hiding in plain sight. Page 11, Table 1, of the Office of Management and Budget’s spreadsheets for assets and balances lists $909,122,000,000 as unspent and unobligated. President Obama is the first President since Lyndon Johnson to not require a “budget sweep” to return these orphaned funds to general use. There is no reason for a debt ceiling increase when they could resolve the matter by a push of a button.
• There is $650 billion dollars in annual documented waste that could guide budget cuts. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), and 73 Agency and Department Inspector Generals, publish an average of 9,000 reports every year that document this waste to specific accounts and programs. These public reports also provide specific recommendations for how to stop the ongoing hemorrhaging of tax dollars. In 2015, the House Appropriators held 128 hearings relating to agency funding requests. Only four of those hearings included Inspector Generals. None included the GAO. None of these hearings included outside oversight groups who document and publicize government waste.
• None of the House passed Appropriation bills call for hiring freezes or any slowdown in expanding the number of bureaucrats. Each year the Federal Executive Branch loses over 60,000 employees to retirements or voluntary departures. There was not one single hearing by Republicans to discuss ways to stop the treadmill of filling every vacancy no matter how obsolete or redundant. Federal agencies have 9 to 23 layers of management between front line workers and top officials. Are every one of these layers and every functionary needed? Republicans have never asked this question. An across the board hiring freeze would save $350 billion a year.

Let the games begin!


[Scot Faulkner served as Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and on President Reagan’s White House Staff.]

9,528 Opportunities Ignored

America should be having a serious discussion on the size and cost of our Federal Government, and what to do about a debt burden that has already sailed our nation off the fiscal cliff. Instead, disinformation has buried what little integrity is left among the participants.

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) recently spoke on the Senate floor: "I am not going to keep cutting the discretionary budget, which by the way is not out of control, despite what you hear on Fox News."

There are many reasons why Senator Landrieu is wrong. In fact, there are 9,528 reasons. That is the approximate number of audits and investigations conducted by career employees during 2012 on federal programs, projects, agencies, and contracts. The General Accountability Office (GAO) issued 768 reports, which contained 1,807 recommendations for operational improvement. One can also glean from public documents approximately 8,760 audits and investigations conducted by the 73 Inspector General Offices among the cabinet departments and independent agencies of the Executive Branch.

Every one of these 9,528 efforts found waste, fraud, and abuse. Every one of these reports identified opportunities for improving operations and made specific recommendations. The Department of Labor’s Inspector General’s Office conducted 66 audits that identified $2.4 billion in waste. The office also opened 585 investigative cases, obtaining 633 indictments and 433 convictions. They also recovered $398 million that had been criminally diverted. There is similar documentation of mismanagement, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness within every report issued by the GAO and the 73 Inspectors Generals. In 2012, these reports documented over $650 billion in waste. That translates into at least $6.5 trillion in possible spending cuts, over the next ten years, without harming one legitimate beneficiary of government services.

It is time for every politician and pundit to admit that there is definitely “room for improvement” in the way the federal government manages our tax dollars. Tragically for America, very few of these 9,528 reports receive any public airing in Congress. Liberals do not want to admit there is “room for improvement” because that will pull the rug out from under their argument for more taxes. Conservatives do not want to admit there is “room for improvement” because that will pull the rug out from under their argument for ideological cuts. Conservatives would also have to admit that there is more than $100 billion wasted annually in the Defense Department. This waste has nothing to do with keeping America safe, in fact, it degrades our safety.

Everyone should be upset that even one penny of tax dollars is misspent. That goes for whether you love a program/project or hate it. Unfortunately, no politician or pundit is willing to rise above their partisan mud-wrestling to think about our country. In rare situations the level of corruption and dysfunction created a bipartisan mandate for strategic change. This happened at the General Services Administration in the early 1980s when years of multi-million dollar criminal activity, and 48 convictions, allowed for a top to bottom rethinking of the agency. The result reduced staff by 20,000 and saved $3 billion. This also happened in the House of Representatives in the mid-1990s when high profile scandals, and the first change in party control in forty years, allowed for a fundamental reinventing of Congressional operations. The result cut support staff by 48%, established financial integrity, and saved $148 million.

Times have become too partisan to start with strategically rethinking Executive functions and management. It would be horrendous to wait for epic scandal or corruption to trigger another brief moment of bipartisan cooperation. What we are left with is cajoling everyone to admit there is “room for improvement”. Senators and Congressmen have 9,528 reports, generated by objective, nonpolitical, professionals to guide where and how to cut waste. Once the recommendations are implemented, and the management improvements are in place, they can debate whether to reallocate the savings. In the meantime, America’s debt bomb will be partially defused without harming programs, services, or recipients.

Can we all agree that this would be a great way for Congress to spend the next two years?

Breaking Bad – Avoiding the Fiscal Cliff

A shorter verison of this column appeared in the Washington Examiner

http://washingtonexaminer.com/breaking-bad-avoiding-the-fiscal-cliff/article/2512227

The impending “fiscal cliff” is the most thoroughly predicted disaster since the end of the Mayan Calendar. The problem is no one is willing to design and implement a real solution that has any chance of bipartisan support.

The cycle of dysfunction has existed for decades. The Federal Budget Act of 1974 created what was supposed to be a rational process for planning, approving, and implementing government spending. It quickly became an empty paper exercise as appropriations ignored the Budget Resolutions. When the difference became embarrassingly stark, the Senate simply gave up on passing one at all. Additional budget reform legislation was passed and immediately ignored. Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, Budget Reconciliation, and the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), all gather dust. Annual budget deals, and continuing resolutions, put off the day of reckoning. Reagan’s 1982 budget deal resulted in more revenue and no spending cuts.

Administrations annually create a new budget. Hidden inside the hundreds of pages is the “Current Services Budget”, or “Baseline”. This outlines how much it costs to maintain existing services at current levels. It factors in various cost drivers - cost of living increases, escalation clauses in contracts, etc. Budget battles are fought over the increase above current service levels. When officials propose budget cuts they are talking about cutting the increase, not cutting current service funding levels. Therefore, there is a built in “ratchet effect” to expanding government spending.

The latest looming cliff is supposed to wrench the Washington policy players out of denial and avoidance, forcing them to actually do something real. This will not happen unless certain things change.

Start with the basics – Use the “Current Service Analysis” levels as the budget framework. Administration and opposing budgets can be aspirations compared against the true baseline. That will level the playing field and keep everyone honest about what is really an increase and what is really a reduction.

Rise above ideology - Both Democrats and Republicans contributed to the cliff. Both sides spend like there is no tomorrow. Both sides embrace “sacred cows”. Both sides live in a world where their people are angels and their opponents are demons. A good first step is to admit that each side has some good ideas and each side has looney ones.

Democrats need to understand that even their most cherished domestic assistance programs are riddled with waste and inefficiency. Republicans need to realize that the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security are just as bloated and dysfunctional as the liberal programs they assail.

Make Inspector Generals and the GAO “rock stars” – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has 3,100 employees. There are also 73 Inspector General Offices embedded in Cabinet Departments and major agencies. All these offices are filled with highly trained, dedicated, objective civil servants who document waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency as well as recommend actions to eradicate and prevent future squandering of public resources. They document over $650 billion in waste annually. That is $6.5 trillion in cost avoidance and direct spending reductions over the ten years everyone uses to discuss the fiscal cliff. Except for a rare instance, these reports, and their detailed recommendations, are universally ignored.

The next Congress will be as grid locked as the last few. Partisan votes in the House will die in a Senate unable to muster sixty votes to move legislation. Then there are possible White House vetoes.

Therefore, why not check ideology at the door and embrace stewarding public funds? One hopes overwhelming numbers of Members from both parties, as well as the White House, would agree that waste is waste. Pass budget bills that specifically mandate GAO and IG recommendations are implemented and corresponding amounts of documented waste, fraud, and abuse are cut from programs and agencies. Resurrecting effective Congressional Oversight is long over due.

Having everyone discover that they can all agree on something will shift from the culture of confrontation to a culture of collaboration. Beginning swimmers start in the shallow end of a pool and then move into deeper waters as their skills and confidence improve. Congress and the White House could move into more complex and contentious waters as their ability to respectfully and constructively disagree improves.

Allow for public input - “Crowd sourcing” is being successfully used in several European countries to harness collective wisdom for public policy. Using either an ongoing “crowd sourcing” process, or an annual referendum tied to tax returns (like the Presidential Campaign fund check-off), citizens could either identify what to cut or what to fund. Their input would initially be advisory and mature into binding guidance as seriousness and sincerity are displayed by all involved.

If Congress, the White House, the agencies, and the media, do not explore these ideas, America faces a crisis that will dwarf the chaos in Greece.

[Scot Faulkner was Chief Administrative Officer for the U.S. House of Representatives. http://citizenoversight.blogspot.com/]



FEDERAL BUDGET INFERNO

"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate"[Abandon all hope, ye who enter here]

- Dante’s Inferno

The battle of the budget is underway, made all the more intense by upcoming Presidential & Congressional Elections.

As usual, everyone is throwing around “scare figures” to protect turf, power, and special interests. Even President Obama is making sweeping assumptions about how Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget would, “if equally distributed” close parks, end student loans, and harm veterans.

The budget debate, played-out in endless the campaign debates, surround what programs should be saved or cut. Republicans always get tongue-tied on this topic. They make bold sweeping statements about government waste and inefficiency and then someone asks them to be specific. This is usually followed by silence or mumbled assertions about abolishing the EPA.

It is truly sad that, except for a few voices in this wilderness, no one takes the time to collect the facts that are already out there. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the 73 Inspector General offices embedded in Cabinet Departments and agencies, issue reports detailing waste fraud and abuse down to specific programs and accounts and with specific dollars attached. The Government Executive Magazine and watch dog groups regularly publish these findings. Why doesn’t anyone read this stuff?

One of my ongoing efforts at public awareness is to post some of the more salient items on my FACEBOOK page. Over just the last six months, the reports I posted totaled $487,687,000,000 of ANNUAL SAVINGS. This $487 billion in annual savings is just a sampling of the reports.

Congress and the White House have been at loggerheads since the summer of 2011 over how to cut less than this amount over TEN YEARS. Yet, fully documented by objective and government funded Inspector Generals and auditors, the path to cutting well over a half a trillion a year from the budget, without any negative impact on services, is there for anyone to see and use. The only requirement is a commitment to financial integrity, efficiency, and accountability.

Below are links from my FACEBOOK posts since October 2011.

GOVERNMENT-WIDE OPPORTUNITIES

· Government curbs improper payments -- but not enough http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/03/government-curbs-improper-payments-not-enough/41616/
· Baby steps for government bookkeeping http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/03/governments-bookkeeping-improving-only-slowly-panel-told/41355/
· Telework Takes Hold - Wired Workplace http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2012/01/telework_takes_hold.php
· GOP senator's latest report on government waste pokes Congress http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2011/12/gop-senators-latest-report-on-government-waste-pokes-congress/35680/
· GAO coaches lawmakers on maximizing cross-agency performance http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2011/12/gao-coaches-lawmakers-on-maximizing-cross-agency-performance/35609/
· Expanded data transparency bill clears House panel http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111103_6907.php?oref=rss%3Fzone%3DNGtoday
· Here is an effort to reduce the federal workforce by 10%, but this can be far more aggressive via targeting positions of retirees. At GSA we reduced the agency from 36,000 to under 20,000 (44%) in three years through a comprehensive attrition program. I reduced my CAO staff from 1,200 to 620 (48%) in one year via reorganization, abolishing functions, and outsourcing. Panel considers bill to shrink federal workforce through attrition http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2011/11/panel-considers-bill-to-shrink-federal-workforce-through-attrition/35314/
· IG council honors star performers http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2011/10/ig-council-honors-star-performers/35187/
· FEATURES: Excellence in Government http://www.govexec.com/magazine/features/2011/10/excellence-in-government/35060/
· http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20110514/ADOP06/105140304/

Department of Defense· Senators go after waste in wartime contracting http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2012/03/senators-go-after-waste-wartime-contracting/41358/
· It is too bad BRAC is not being used to deal with our 900+ overseas bases. At least 400 of them are useless and expensive. Those overseas bases are generating non-American jobs - bring those jobs home! Administration to request new round of base closures http://www.govexec.com/defense/2012/01/administration-request-new-round-base-closures/40979/
· http://www.govexec.com/defense/2011/06/grassley-gives-failing-marks-to-pentagon-inspector-general/34115/
· http://public.cq.com/docs/weeklyreport/weeklyreport-000004022899.html
· http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/slash-federal-spending-gao-details-waste-inefficiency-duplication-again

Department of Energy· Energy Dept. offers prize to create mobile apps that already exist http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/05/energy-dept-offers-prize-to-create-mobile-apps-that-already-exist/

Department of Homeland Security· IG: Customs shelling out millions in workers’ comp http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2012/04/ig-customs-shelling-out-millions-workers-comp/41745/
· Cannot believe that Homeland Security is going to throw away more taxpayer money on a failed "virtual border fence". Isn't $1 billion down the rat hole a sufficient learning experience?? DHS details contract for second try at Southwest virtual fence http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111209_5650.php?oref=rss%3Fzone%3DNGtoday
· USCIS mismanaged immigration processing project, auditors report http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111122_1400.php?oref=rss%3Fzone%3DNGtoday
· Auditors blast DHS' $1.5 billion border plan http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111107_7253.php?oref=rss%3Fzone%3DNGpopular
· TSA mum on missing deadline for 100 percent cargo screening http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111102_1709.php?oref=rss%3Fzone%3DNGtoday
· FEMA urged to increase accountability http://www.govexec.com/defense/2011/10/fema-urged-to-increase-accountability/35216/
Department of Justice
· GAO upends Justice's identity card project http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20120316_6484.php?oref=rss

Environmental Protection Agency· EPA plagued with poor budgetary and workforce organization, GAO reports http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2011/10/epa-plagued-with-poor-budgetary-and-workforce-organization-gao-reports/35156/
· www.gao.gov/new.items/d11347.pdf

General Services Administration· GSA employee rewards program now also under scrutiny http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/04/gsa-employee-rewards-program-now-also-under-scrutiny/41690/
· http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2871348/posts
· http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/04/lavish-conference-costs-top-gsa-officials-their-jobs/41651/

US Postal Service· Post Office aspires to provide private sector salaries without [private sector competence. Postal Service defends executive salaries as lawmaker looks to cap pay http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2012/03/postal-service-defends-executive-salaries-lawmaker-looks-cap-pay/41442/

Life after the Super Committee

My column regarding the Super Committee and what Congress can do now was published in the

New York Daily News on November 28, 2011.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fight-cut-debt-target-rampant-federal-waste-article-1.982076

The Congressional supercommittee’s failure to eliminate $1.2 trillion in federal debt has launched a new round of “blamestorming” as both Republicans and Democrats brace for the automatic cuts that are set to begin in 2013.

Some perspective and focus are desperately needed. For while indiscriminate cutting may be unwise, it is simply mythical to insist, as some do, that there isn’t room to massively reduce the size of government.

To the contrary, Washington’s fiscal garden is overgrown from decades of negligence. In recent decades political gamesmanship from across the political spectrum has led our federal government to decline into a weed-infested jungle. The way back to proper public horticulture is not new taxes, which would only fertilize the culture of waste and dysfunction. It is also not through heavy handed cuts, as a general herbicide would kill even the fruit bearing plants.

The first step is to identify the weeds. The Government Accountability Office and 73 inspector general offices are filled with investigators and accountants who identify waste, fraud and abuse. Their exhaustive reports track to specific programs, offices and contracts and treasury account numbers — and identify billions of dollars in cost-cutting opportunities.

Yet they are routinely ignored. As a result of this neglect, the amount of documented waste has remained at a consistent 20% of the federal appropriated budget since first complied by the Grace Commission in the 1980s.

President Obama’s proposed appropriated outlays for FY 2012 are $1.34 trillion. That means $268 billion a year is potential waste. Ten years of eradicating waste and sustaining cost avoidance would result in $2.68 trillion in savings, more than double the savings mandated in this summer’s debt deal.

Instead of partisan bickering, our elected officials should review these GAO/IG reports and listen to the staff who wrote them. They should conduct “sweat the details” management reviews. Waste is waste no matter which party’s flag flies over the executive branch.

Simultaneously, Congress should do something it has not done in years, whether under Republican or Democratic control: conduct aggressive oversight and link funding to functionality. Zero-based budgeting has existed since 1969. Sunset provisions have been built into legislation since the 1970s. The Government Performance and Results Act, which holds programs and agencies accountable for actually doing something of value, was enacted in 1993. Eliminating programs and offices based upon audit findings can happen if the will is there.

America’s overgrown fiscal garden is also filled with a bloated bureaucracy. Walmart, the world’s largest corporation, has just five layers of management between its checkout clerks and the CEO. There are 12 layers of managers between a park ranger and the Secretary of Interior. There are 21 layers of management between the person handling TRICARE medical benefits and the Secretary of Defense.

The entrenched interests of Washington, including turf-conscious Members of Congress, play a cynical game of eliminating frontline service personnel and services instead of wiping out the many layers of people whose sole purposes are attending useless meetings and writing unread reports.

The front line is where voters feel pain. When the cry goes up, federal officials say, “see — that is why we can’t touch this program.” It’s a fallacy.

During my time in Washington, we proved budget cutting is possible. At the General Services Administration, a reform team cross-walked Inspector General reports to dysfunctional programs and offices, applied private sector logic to eradicating management layers and linked attrition, retirements and a hiring freeze to reduce the GSA’s workforce from 34,000 to 20,000 in three years. This was a 41% reduction — yet system integrity, processing time, and operational efficiency skyrocketed.

As Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, we reduced 12 layers of managers down to two and reduced my operations staff by 47.5% in 15 months. Again, services improved along with efficiency.

In each case, real sustainable management reform required hard work, not just issuing news releases. Like a gardener who gets his or her hands dirty by handling individual plants and pulling weeds, legislative and executive branch officials need to do the mundane, but vital, tasks of actually understanding operations and management.
The reason they do not do this is that it is laborious, not glamorous. Our current political culture does not reward results. Maybe enough voters will finally change this culture in November 2012.

[Faulkner served in executive appointments during the Reagan administration and as chief administrative officer of the U.S. House of Representatives.]

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fight-cut-debt-target-rampant-federal-waste-article-1.982076#ixzz283pmTzKg

Cox's Conundrum

There are many reasons behind the current meltdown of America’s capital markets. Here is one that I know of firsthand.

In May 2006, senior aides to Chris Cox, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approached me to become the agency’s Executive Director. They were faced with mounting pressures to make major changes. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) had just published a harsh critique on management and information deficiencies within the agency.

Cox’s senior staff and I held an extensive meeting on May 16. During this meeting they outlined an aggressive reform agenda for bringing the SEC into the 21st Century, to make its operations more transparent, and to use its extensive databases to create more agile and proactive monitoring of capital markets.

I was impressed with their zeal for reform and their willingness to move aggressively and creatively. It reminded me of the House management reforms Cox had supported when I was the Chief Administrative Officer.

They asked me for a “think piece” on how this could all happen. My follow-up memorandum was a detailed blue print for making the SEC more accountable to Congress and the public, while using information technology to enhance the monitoring of companies and capital transactions.

To my amazement, the blue print was rejected out-of-hand. It was considered too bold and too aggressive. It was like the May 16 meeting had not occurred. Eventually, they choose an Executive Director who was very junior and who had been a “morale consultant” in human resources. This person had never designed or led strategic change or managed information systems. The reform initiative was dead on arrival.

I wrote Chairman Cox on June 28 attempting to reopen our dialogue on strategic change: “I would like to help you address the material weaknesses identified by the GAO, as well as improving fundamental agency operations. These projects may include, business continuity, IT security, modernizing and formalizing the agency’s operational procedures and policies, cost reductions, and assuring the success of the next generation of online systems used by the public.”

I never received an answer. Now Chairman Cox must answer these and other questions as to why he did not act when he had both the mandate and the opportunity.