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Mail
Magazine 24
Obama
Ignores 85,933 Ideas to Save
Money
by T. Elliot Gaiser
President
Obama asked federal
workers to suggest ways for the federal government to save money, and
American
citizens responded – with 86,000 suggestions.
But
his administration picked only
67 of those ideas, most of which are either minute or simply take
credit for
savings that have already been implemented, according to Washington
Post
reporter David A. Fahrenthold.
The
Obama administration created
the online comment box in 2009. Sixteen ideas have been given a
presidential
SAVE award, and 51 ideas have been included in past Obama budget
proposals.
Not
one savings idea has been
included this year, because Obama’s 2013 budget is still late.
The
Post found that 20 – nearly a
third – of the 67 ideas were actually old savings plans that were
already being
acted upon by the government.
For
instance, Obama claimed the
SAVE award program reduced drug costs at the National Institutes of
Health. “But
that actually started in 2008, under President George W. Bush,” writes
Fahrenthold. “The White House also cited the SAVE program for an effort
to
digitize the X-rays of federal prisoners. That began in 2004, during
Bush’s
first term.”
In
all, these are the results of
Obama’s budget crowd source:
86,000
ideas submitted since 2009.
67
ideas chosen by the Obama
administration.
20
of these ideas had already been
implemented in some form before 2009.
15
ideas have not been implemented
or had no details available.
Four
ideas have been implemented
but were watered down to generate less savings.
28
actual savings ideas have
implemented since 2009.
Looking
for ways to save tax
dollars is always worthwhile. Heritage has highlighted ways that the
Department
of Education, Transportation Security Administration, and Environmental
Protection Agency can save taxpayers’ money. Heritage also outlined, in
detail,
$150 billion in cuts Congress should enact.
But
in the end, the President
should reform the main drivers of spending: entitlements. Medicare,
Medicaid,
and Social Security together drain 44 percent of the budget each year,
and that
share will grow. There are six bipartisan proposals that would achieve
substantial savings through entitlement reform – if they were
championed with
presidential leadership.
Source:
blog.heritage.org
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