WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) issued a statement in anticipation of tonight’s State of the Union Address calling for President Obama to lay out a plan for eliminating wasteful government spending. In light of the federal government’s four consecutive trillion-dollar deficits and $16.5 trillion national debt, there has never been a better time for judicious spending cuts. So far in 2013 the President has abdicated his leadership role on spending by pushing back the release of his fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget to mid-March and passing the buck to Senate Democrats on an alternative to sequestration.
“In his first State of the Union Address, President Obama enthusiastically called for rooting out wasteful spending,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “However, he has scarcely broached the subject in his three subsequent Addresses. While the President has touted several different initiatives with the purported goal of reducing waste in government, including the Campaign to Cut Waste, the Accountable Government Initiative, and an executive order to eliminate unused federal property, none has achieved any traction.
“Fortunately, there are still hundreds of reasonable examples of wasteful spending that the President can include in his speech tonight. Prime Cuts, CAGW’s annual spending cut report, contains 691 recommendations that would save taxpayers $391.9 billion in one year and $1.8 trillion over five years. President Obama need not agree with each of Prime Cuts’ recommendations, but he has an obligation to come up with his own list of spending cuts.
“In particular, the President should acknowledge the potential for savings in reducing duplication and overlap, a glaring problem highlighted in two Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports from 2011 and 2012. For example, GAO identified 209 science, technology, engineering and math programs costing $3.1 billion spread across 13 agencies; 47 job training programs costing $18 billion spread across nine agencies; and more than 50 programs to promote financial literacy across 20 agencies. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) have estimated that the annual cost of this duplication and overlap is $400 billion.
“The Department of Defense is also ripe for pruning,” added Schatz. Like all federal departments, DOD spends billions each year on programs that have little to do with its mission. In a November, 2012 report ‘The Department of Everything,’ Sen. Coburn pointed out that DOD will spend a total of $67.9 billion over 10 years on nonessential projects, including $15.2 billion on education, $9 billion on grocery stores and commissaries, $6 billion on non-military research and development, and $700 million on alternative energy. CAGW’s recommendation to cancel the much-maligned Medium Extended Air Defense System would save taxpayers $190 million in one year and $16.5 billion over the projected duration of the program.
“The 113th Congress will make many difficult decisions in the coming months. President Obama can set the tone for serious efforts to cut wasteful spending by identifying a vision of government that squanders less of the taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Anything else is unacceptable,” concluded Schatz.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.