Legislation to Eliminate Government Waste Long Advocated by Platts Passes U.S. House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation Wednesday designed to better evaluate the effectiveness of federal government programs – the Government Efficiency, Effectiveness and Performance Improvement Act of 2010.  The legislation (H.R. 2142) was sponsored by U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) and Congressman Todd Platts (R-PA-19), and now goes to the United States Senate for consideration.

“At a time when the national debt is over $13 trillion, it has never been more apparent that the federal government must spend taxpayer dollars wisely,” said Congressman Platts. “One of the reasons we find ourselves in such substantial debt today is that federal programs never end.  Such programs must be monitored to ensure that our investments are presenting clear results and those programs that are not performing effectively must be reformed or eliminated.” 

H.R. 2142 is similar to legislation that Congressman Platts introduced in the 108th Congress (H.R. 3826) and the 109th Congress (H.R. 185), and requires that all federal agencies work with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to clearly identify outcome-based goals for their programs and then submit an action plan to achieve those goals.  Agencies would be required to conduct quarterly performance assessments outlining how effectively they are working to meet their stated goals, and all information would be made available to Congress and the American people. 

Additionally, H.R. 2142 calls on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to perform frequent and detailed evaluations outlining how effective federal agencies have been in achieving these standards.  GAO would also assess whether the federal programs in question are providing direct value to taxpayers. 

Congressman Platts’ leadership in promoting a more accountable and results-oriented government stem from his service as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Management, Finance, and Accountability during the 107th and 108th sessions of Congress.  During Congressman Platts’ tenure, the subcommittee shed light on numerous government inefficiencies - such as overpayments for services, accounting errors and under-performing programs - that spent taxpayer funds in a wasteful manner.