Jeray Perkins
Waste in Government
July 4, 2014

Introduction
The way the government spends the tax payer’s dollars and the way that they operate using Americans tax dollars is a controversial topic in the United States. Americans have a sometimes misplaced distrust in the way our Government spends and manages money for programs. The perception of waste and governmental inefficiency has led to a call for reform in most governmental activities. While the public may believe that there is wide spread fraud and intentional waste, I have a very different view as it pertains to governmental money management. In this paper we will discuss the inefficiencies of the federal government and some of the root issues to the problem that is governmental waste.
GAO Report and Overlap The United States Governmental Accountability Office release a transparent report in efforts to recognize some of the spending concerns that are currently happening across governmental offices. The dissection of these programs ranged from Agriculture to Training Employment and Education. While reading through the GAO report I found a few common themes. Duplication being at the very forefront of governmental agencies and by duplication I mean two or more departments involved with these same tasks USDA are two programs where we see some overlap in their functions. According to the GAO report the USDA is responsible for catfish but the FDA is responsible for seafood. The fact that we have two very similar agencies involved in seafood, appears to be an extremely wasteful environment for the money the government receives from tax payers. Furthermore, communication across governmental departments can be a detriment to these organizations behaving competently. In the GAO report it was stated that the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security does not notify FDA or USDA when imported food has arrived and can be inspected. From everyday citizens point of view it seems to be a given that agencies should work together in completing all tasks especially when sharing information as simple but yet vital to the USDA and FDA as a food shipment that is up for inspection. Shouldn’t the number one goal of these agencies to share as much information as possible in efforts to be the most efficient. Furthermore wouldn’t combining agencies such as the FDA and the USDA create organization where duplication and overlapping would not occur? The Department of Defense is another agency that has the problem with overlapping and non-efficient behavior. The DOD is another department where sharing of Information and the presence of central command could help combat waste. The GAO reports summarizes a need for the DOD to create a Joint Medical Command to increase the sharing of resources, and implement the use of common operating practices. These efforts could reduce duplicate functions in the organization of the DOD. After reading the GAO report the common theme needed to alleviate the problem overlapping and duplication is the implementation of centralized control and the sharing resources. It sounds to me that our governmental departments need to realize that we are all playing for same team and have a common goal is to make our government an efficient entity, but sometimes when trying to change a bureaucracy change is difficult.
The Case of Waste An article by Stephen Dinan “Coburn calls out Senate cohorts as the biggest waste in government”. In this article Dinan writes about Coburn public bashing of fellow senators and the government’s spending habits. However, these spending habits were very curious but in the grand scheme of things make up a small portion of the overall budget and the amount of money we actually waste. But, the Senator Coburn quote that the government is specific about what we should fund but not specific about what it should cut could be a plausible statement. Furthermore, I believe that Coburn was trying to make a statement and get his fellow senators to take an in-depth look at the way that they do business. The fact that government spent 1.5 million dollars on a grant to build a better gaming joystick the question is why would it? Consequently, waste just doesn’t come strictly from government frivolously spending money but also by fraud. The case of Medicaid and how much money we spend for healthcare prescriptions compared to other wealthy country. While we do create an environment for pharmaceutical companies to flourish, we do so at a cost to our very own tax payers. In the U.S House Committee report on Uncovering Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Medicaid Program. The committee reports in Minnesota that shady accounting practices caused the government to spend more on Medicaid in this state than it would need if some accountability measures were set in place. This article makes me believe that in some instances our government blindly gives money to states and do not ensure that they are using them appropriately. This case of fraud probably caused American tax payers hundreds of million dollars, however this is only one instance were the fraud was caught but many more instances was shared in this report. Prescription drugs and the amount that we pay for them is also an area where the governments has dropped the ball on waste saving measures. The Article by Dean Baker “Reducing Waste with an Efficient Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit” is very descriptive in the ways we could save money in this area. For a very long time I have thought why the United States pay so much more in prescription drug costs compared to other affluent countries. And if these countries negotiate how much they can pay for prescription drugs why can’t we? Do politicians not care that we pay the most for prescription drugs or is it the reasoning given by pharmaceutical companies that the United State shoulders the burden of financing future pharmaceutical research? Furthermore if it is true that we bare the disadvantage of helping funding future research in the field of medicine, why do we shoulder this burden alone? Baker describes billions of dollars in savings if we negotiated a prescription drug benefit with pharmaceutical companies and with cooperation of the government we could see major savings in the field of medicine.
Public Perception and Opinion Polls on Fraud and Waste To dissect what the American people view as waste we must define waste. Furthermore, for the purposes of this paper we will use Tom Schaller article “What is Government Waste”, as categories ineffective spending, inefficient spending, and inappropriate spending. Ineffective spending involves spending money on programs that do not work. While on the other hand inefficient spending involves excessive spending. Finally, inappropriate spending is where government spends money on programs spend money on activities that it should not be involved with. Welfare could be an example in a citizens mind of ineffective spending, because it does gives money to those that are in need, but it does not truly eradicate poverty. An example inefficient spending would be the public’s view on Defense spending and if the money is being spent correctly. The third category listed by Schaller is inappropriate spending and it could be categorized by government spending on illegal immigrants. But the main point I think Schaller was trying to get across is that is all a matter of perception. If an individual cannot quantify a problem or understand the issue how can we truly value you their input. According to several polls from the readings the average American believe that roughly half of every dollar the government spend is wasted. This figure is astronomical in my opinion and impossible to quantify for validity. The usual distrust of the federal government is sometimes warranted but not in the case of intended waste tax resources. I don’t believe the average American analyzes the fiscal budget of the United States on a year by year basis, therefore these opinions are not based in fact but nonetheless an emotional response to a problem. But the real issues that we as Americans have some power over these politicians who endorse and create these budget for distribution of tax dollars amongst agencies. We choose which elected official will represent us in the executive office, and congress. Furthermore through the process of polls like the ones in the reading added pressure is placed on these politicians and policy makers to deliver with results. An informed voter and citizen should truly evaluate and research a problem before giving an opinion on the subject of government waste.

Conclusion The process of evaluating the government and it spending habits is arduous task, however I believe some promising efforts have been in this process cutting waste and decreasing fraud. While, the GAO report is a transparent document that correctly details some of problems facing governmental organizations, more is needed. The GAO report highlights the need for sharing resources and the needed consolidation of several organizations, however full reform of government spending is needed and the GAO report is a piece to a very big puzzle. In the case of fraud the government must do a better job of holding states and the organizations within them accountable for misappropriation of government funds. The models of other wealthy country as it pertains to prescription drug costs would be instrumental portion of overall governmental spending reform. Public perception and opinion polls will always be a slippery slope as the government attempts to reform spending in our country, but sometimes the people are not sure what is best for them. In theory I tend to agree with the Clinton Administration where they were under the belief that government could cost less and be more effective but it will take a bipartisan team effort to accomplish this task.