Obama said he wanted to get rid of myriad duplications and inefficiencies — including having five different entities involved in housing, and more than a dozen agencies that regulate food safety....
...In his recent State of the Union Address, (click here) President Obama pledged to eliminate and consolidate duplicative programs, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report just this month finding the federal government could save hundreds of billions of dollars by eliminating duplication and overlap.
The federal government wastes more than $100 billion a year on programs with duplicative and overlapping missions, according to an analysis based upon the findings of the recent GAO report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue."...
REDUCING INEFFICIENT DUPLICATION SAVES MONEY WITHOUT CUTTING ESSENTIAL SERVICES (click here)
The GAO report provides a blueprint outlining how Congress could save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year without cutting essential services.
Smart consolidations will improve service.
GAO identified a number of areas where consolidation would improve services and save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. These include:
• DOD/VA electronic health record systems. Although the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA), for example, "have many common health care business needs, the departments have begun separate modernizations of their electronic health records systems. Reduced duplication in this area could save system development and operation costs while support higher-quality health care for service members and veterans."...
