Had To Bust This Out...

(Courtesy of ASM826)

Look! It's a shocked face!

Annual GAO Report Exposes More Duplication in the Federal Budget, Less Responsibility Coming Out of Washington

Washington, D.C. — Members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Chairman Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME), and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statements today regarding the second annual Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identifying ongoing duplication and areas for costs savings throughout the federal government. The 2012 GAO duplication report reviews 51 areas of government spending, including 32 areas of extensive federal duplication, fragmentation and overlap, and 19 additional areas of opportunities for large cost savings through addressing waste and mismanagement. Read the full report, titled “Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue”: here.

Here's the full report:

Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue

This annual report for 2012 presents 51 areas where programs may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more effective in providing government services.

This report describes 32 areas in which we found evidence of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation among federal government programs. We have found that agencies can often realize a range of benefits, such as improved customer service, decreased administrative burdens, and cost savings from addressing the issues we raise in this report. Cost savings related to reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, and fragmentation can be difficult to estimate in some cases because the portion of agency budgets devoted to certain programs or activities is often not clear. In addition, the implementation costs that might be associated with consolidating programs, establishing collaboration mechanisms, or reducing activities, facilities, or personnel, among other variables, are difficult to estimate, or needed information on program performance or costs is not readily available. As the “Actions Needed” presented in this report show, addressing our varied findings will require careful deliberation and tailored, well-crafted solutions.

This report also summarizes 19 additional opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. Collectively, this report shows that, if actions are taken to address the issues raised herein, as well as those from our 2011 report, the government could potentially save tens of billions of dollars annually, depending on the extent of actions taken.

Got that? "Tens of billions of dollars annually". The government is literally wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on redundant programs - and has been for well over a year WITH FULL DOCUMENTATION. The GAO published a report last year with the same recommendations, yet our government still wasted billions of our dollars on redundant programs. KNOWING FULL WELL they would have to document it (how much is wasted there?) and that NO ONE WOULD CARE ANYWAYS.

Why are there redundant programs? How many people are employed in completely useless, make-work jobs to give a congresscritter's nephew a six figure no show job? Oh, that by the way makes him eligible for a fat .gov pension when he hits retirement age... And for the love of Pete, why the hell weren't any of these recommendations from last year followed???

They expect us to buy that the Bush ZOMG TAX CUTS are going to leave grandma and grandpa out starving in the cold, yet they completely ignore their own recommendations on how to save money? And worst of all, no one seems to care. The report came out last year detailing billions of dollars of waste. Conservative pundits and bloggers screamed bloody murder. The vast majority of Americas said "GAO? Isn't that some form of Chinese food chicken general?" and went back to watching Snooki get voted off American Idol.

Then again, we need our circuses to distract us from the distinct lack of bread...

That is all.