Right Now
Apr 09 2013
Duplication Nation: New Report Finds $95 Billion in Waste and Duplication
Total Savings More than Enough to Cover Costs of Sequestration
Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its third annual report exposing unnecessary duplication and overlapping programs throughout the federal government, revealing 17 areas of government duplication and 14 areas of potential cost savings. Total, this report outlines more than $95 in potential savings from duplicative programs and inefficient practices-more than enough to offset the costs of sequestration.
Examples from the 2013 Duplication Report
- 679 renewable energy initiatives at 23 federal agencies and their 130 sub-agencies cost taxpayers $15 billion in FY 2010.
- 76 programs to prevent or treat drug abuse are spread across 15 agencies, costing $4.5 billion in FY 2012.
- Three federal offices are involved in overseeing catfish inspections.
- 159 contracting organizations in 10 different Defense Department components provide defense foreign language support. GAO estimates $50 to $200 million in potential savings by eliminating this duplication.
- The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) offers 69 different language services. GAO found 23 instances of overlap involving 43 of these services, accounting for $149 million, or nearly 20 percent, of the BBG’s FY 2011 annual appropriations.
- 21 programs, including eight tax expenditures, are in place to help students save for, pay, and repay the cost of higher education, annually costing $45 billion, $104 billion in financial loans, and $25 billion in lost revenue from tax spending.
- Six programs to employ and train veterans are operated by two government agencies, which spent $1.2 billion in FY 2011 to serve 880,000 participants. The GAO found, “Despite these efforts, the unemployment rate for veterans who have recently separated from the military is higher than that for other veterans and nonveterans.”
- The Department of Commerce’s National Technical Information Service (NTIS) was established in 1950 and tasked with collecting and distributing certain reports. Despite the fact that nearly 75 percent of these reports are now available online for free, NTIS continues to charge the public, and even other federal agencies, for these reports. Even more, 95 percent of those on other websites, were available for free. Making the government looking even more foolish, GAO explains, “The source that most often had the reports GAO was searching for was another website located at http://www.Google.com.”
- Six separate offices at the Department of Homeland Security are involved in research and development. In one example, “two DHS components awarded five separate contracts that each addressed detection of the same chemical. Moreover, DHS did not have the policies and mechanisms necessary to coordinate or track research and development activities across the department.”
2013 Duplication Report Executive Summary Available Here.
2013 Duplication Report Chart Available Here.
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 9/13/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012 |
| 9/13/12 | Social Security Disability Programs: Improving the Quality of Benefit Award Decisions |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 6/19/12 | Farm Bill Amendments Update |
| 6/12/12 | Dr. Coburn's Amendments to the S. 3240, Farm Bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 7/27/11 | 9,000,000,000,000 Ways to Balance the Budget |
| 7/22/11 | Dr. Coburn on C-SPAN's Washington Journal This Morning |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 4/13/11 | New Report Reveals Overbilling of Treasury Department by Law Firms, Misuse of TARP Funds |
| 4/4/11 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to cut spending by $20 billion |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 11/17/10 | Today, Dr. Coburn filed two amendments to the Food Safety bill |
| 11/10/10 | Earmark Myths and Realities |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 10/26/10 | What Others Are Saying About "Grim Diagnosis" |
| 10/7/10 | Dr. Coburn Not Holding Aid to Haiti |
| 10/4/10 | HHS ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURE |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2/22/10 | Guns in Parks Fact Sheet |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 11/18/09 | Coburn's efforts to improve the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act |
| 11/5/09 | Facts about the Veterans Caregiver Bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 8/6/09 | Clunkers for Charity |
| 8/4/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 6/16/09 | Dr. Coburn Releases Stimulus Oversight Report |
| 6/2/09 | Coburn Amendments to the Family Smoking and Prevention Act |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 5/12/09 | Coburn Gun Amendments 1067 and 1068 |
| 5/5/09 | Coburn Offers Amendment to Dispose of Unneeded Federal Buildings |
| 5/1/09 | OMB Responds to Coburn's Letter on Transparency |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 4/22/09 | Coburn Amendments to The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1/29/09 | Senate Rejects Opportunity to Provide Health Care to Needy Children at No Additional Cost |
| 1/7/09 | Senate Leaders to Kick Off New Congress with an Earmark-Laden Omnibus Lands Bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 10/16/08 | Highlights of Senator Reid's Omnibus Lands Grab and Energy Restrictions Act Scheduled for Debate Next Month |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 9/27/08 | Coburn Comments on the Fiscal Year 2009 Continuing Resolution |
| 9/26/08 | Reid Neglects Economy to Pursue Pet Projects |
| 9/17/08 | Reid's Monkey Business Continues |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 8/21/08 | Coburn Applauds HHS Action on Physician Conscience Rights |
| 8/1/08 | Democrats Hold Civil Rights and Child Pornography Legislation as a Political Hostage |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 6/20/08 | AMERICAN OIL REMAINS UNTOUCHED |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 3/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's Efforts Fix GINA |
| 3/11/08 | Coburn's Speech on the 2009 Budget |
| 3/3/08 | Dr. Coburn Amendment to Ensure Scientists Conduct Research, Not Politicians |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2/14/08 | Dr. Coburn's amendments to fix the broken Indian Health Care system |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1/29/08 | Dr. Coburn's Federal Land Bill Amendments |
| 1/24/08 | Coburn's official visit to Taiwan |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 8/28/07 | Congress celebrates the Year of the Golden Pig |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2/14/07 | Debating the continuing resolution |
| 2/7/07 | What's next for the War in Iraq? |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1/30/07 | Do we need to increase the federal mininum wage? |
| 1/12/07 | Real reform for the Senate ethics bill |
| 1/4/07 | The Coburn Principles |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 12/14/06 | 109th Congress Convenes |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 11/16/06 | Coburn amendments to the Agriculture Appropriations bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 9/26/06 | Ryan White CARE Act Reauthorization |
| 9/26/06 | President Bush Signs Coburn/Obama Transparency Act |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 8/23/06 | Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act |
| 8/2/06 | Coburn amendments to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 5/2/06 | Stop the Senate from approving non-emergency projects in the emergency supplemental |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 12/14/05 | Dr. Coburn letter to HHS on Ryan White CARE Act formulas and ADAP funding |