Author Topic: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...  (Read 2281 times)

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Offline trapeze

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The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« on: February 28, 2011, 07:56:34 PM »
Again, found via AceOfSpades (which I am coming to like even more than HotAir).  From the Politico:


Quote
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) issued a cryptic warning about a Government Accountability Office report that will be released Tuesday morning, saying it will make “all of us look like jackasses.

The GAO report, required by federal law, identifies overlap and duplication in federal agencies, offices and programs, and estimates the cost of those inefficiencies.

“Read the report that comes out tomorrow from the GAO that looked at the government that we put in the last debt-limit extension – makes us all look like jackasses. …” Coburn told reporters at the Capitol on Monday night. “Go study that. It will show why we are $14 trillion in debt.”

Coburn, who’s read a copy of the report, refused to elaborate or say what led him to that conclusion. But the report likely will be discussed at a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, on which Coburn serves. The Oklahoma Republican also is a member of the “Gang of Six,” a bipartisan group of senators negotiating to implement the recommendations of President Barack Obama’s debt and deficit reduction commission.

“I will let the report speak for itself,” he said. “And anybody that says we don’t look like fools up here hadn’t read the report.

So this hits the fan in the morning.  Should be interesting.  Do you suppose that the MFM will report on the report?  No, me neither.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline Libertas

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2011, 09:53:14 PM »
The MFM will report on it only to the extent that there is a conservative to cast blame upon, sans that, it will get buried, ignored and forgotten in no time flat.

ETA - The above statement includes attacks on a conservative without regard to the subject at hand, simply mentioning the report or what is in it is sufficient grounds to be lambasted for any and all manner if ills, simply because they dared open their racist right-wing mouth!
« Last Edit: February 28, 2011, 09:55:19 PM by Libertas »
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Online Pandora

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2011, 11:04:55 PM »
We'll find out whether the IntheTankMedia reports it widely or not.

Coburn's telling us they got pwned.
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Offline trapeze

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2011, 08:23:49 AM »
The WSJ has this early:

[blockquote]The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.

These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

A report from the nonpartisan GAO, to be released Tuesday, compiles a list of redundant and potentially ineffective federal programs, and it could serve as a template for lawmakers in both parties as they move to cut federal spending and consolidate programs to reduce the deficit. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), who pushed for the report, estimated it identifies between $100 billion and $200 billion in duplicative spending. The GAO didn't put a specific figure on the spending overlap.[/blockquote]

And of course the reason that Coburn was saying that they would look like a pack of idiots is that just last week these guys couldn't cut $100 billion.

Much more at the link.
In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline AmericanPatriot

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2011, 08:57:38 AM »
Quote
And of course the reason that Coburn was saying that they would look like a pack of idiots is that just last week these guys couldn't cut $100 billion.


They are idiots.
Or they have no intention of doing anything substantial

Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2011, 09:10:36 AM »
Quote
The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.

The GOP is being handed the blueprint to victory for the party and America. The Tea Party groups are likely to latch onto this and not let go, holding GOP feet to the fire. This kind of bloated self-perpetuating bureaucracy is indefensible in any time, let alone in a time of fiscal insolvency, and it's an easy case to make.

One can make the case that such things are not constitutionally mandated, and that is a tough thing to sell politically. But it is not tough to sell the idea that there should be ONE agency overseeing food safety, ONE agency to help the homeless, and ONE program for economic development.

I suspect that the GOP will be putting that case together shortly, or at least if they have any illusions that they don't need to, the Tea Party will force the issue.

Can I just say as an aside, thank God for the Tea Party? I mean literally, thank God. I believe in American providence, and in the Tea Party I see what is perhaps the last opportunity for America to reclaim its blessings.

"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson

Offline Glock32

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2011, 09:55:04 AM »
Not only do they have all these redundant programs, but when have any of the various issues allegedly addressed by these agencies ever actually improved? Wasn't the massive explosion in the size of government under LBJ's Great Society supposed to end poverty, or at least significantly reduce it? Yet I still hear poverty being cited as an American crisis and reason for this or that public expense. Homelessness? I can still find panhandlers at the top of the off-ramps.

I think you can make the case that IDP makes above. But another glaring case that needs to be made is that these stupid-ass wasteful programs don't even remedy the very things their existence is predicated upon. The bigger message that needs to be hammered home is that not only is government wasteful, it doesn't even work.
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Offline Libertas

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2011, 11:19:53 AM »
Hell yeah, G.  The best thing government knows how to do is screw everybody...but the taxpayer is the only one not even getting the courtesy of a reach-around!  All the Ruling Class pol's & bureaucrats & special interests (unions, MFM, Hollyweird) all cover each other...everybody else just gets screwed...and for too long conservatives have let this behemoth grow year after fricken year, foolishly deceiving themselves that they can tame the beast from within and lessen the monsters bite...     ::bashing::     FOOLS!

If the Tea Party and the new freshmen can't get these idiots to wake the hell up, well, time is only growing shorter and these people got a get a lot bolder!

We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2011, 11:32:43 AM »
There's this:

Quote
The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help people understand finances, according to a draft of the report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Instances of ineffective and unfocused federal programs can lead to a mishmash of occasionally arbitrary policies and rules, the report said. It recommends merging or consolidating a number of programs to both save money and make the government more efficient.

"Help people understand finances"?!!  Merge my ass - get rid of them!

And, this:

Quote
One program that funnels transportation funds to the states "functions as a cash-transfer general-purpose grant program, rather than as a tool for pursuing a cohesive national transportation policy," the report said. Similarly, it chided the government over encouraging federal agencies to purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles while having policies that agencies reduce electricity consumption. It said government agencies have purchased numerous vehicles that run on alternative fuels only to find many gas stations don't sell alternative fuels. This has led government agencies to turn around and request waivers so they didn't have to use alternative fuels.

I'm figuring it's not only these sort of things that pissed Coburn off, but other spending that goes way beyond the ridiculous as well.
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Offline Glock32

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2011, 12:36:00 PM »
Quote
It said government agencies have purchased numerous vehicles that run on alternative fuels only to find many gas stations don't sell alternative fuels.

Many? More like: almost all of them.

A lot of this crap, such as having contradictory mandates about buying plug-in hybrids yet also using less electricity, are the sorts of things that can't be "fixed". They're an inherent trait of big government. When government is so large and has its hands in everything, nobody can keep a handle on where it's duplicating and contradicting some other organ of government.

It sounds like some damning information in this report. However, I worry that the Republicans get drawn into the trap of focusing on "fixing" government. The coherent message needs to be one of limited government, that you can only "fix" this sort of thing by eliminating. Anytime a politician drones on about how much money we're going to save by finding and fixing inefficiencies, you know they're just spouting inane drivel. I expect to hear a bunch of that as this report becomes part of the conversation.
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Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2011, 12:39:15 PM »
It occurs to me suddenly to wonder why some veteran Republicans with good solid records of fiscal conservatism have been opposing some of the proposed spending cut measures lately. It's easy to say (and I've said it) that they are establishment Pubbies and non-serious about spending cuts. But many of them don't have the record to back up that assertion.

Wondering this in the context of Coburn's disgust for what is revealed in this report just spurred an answer that I hadn't considered. Maybe they oppose the proposed spending cuts because they know they are symbolic, temporary, and will lull voters into believing that something is being done, when the truth is that unless the cuts are systemic, they will accomplish nothing tangible or permanent, and possibly undermine the momentum for real systemic spending cuts.
 ::thinking::
Just a thought. I mean, some of the names on the list of people who didn't or don't support the proposed cuts just don't make sense.
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Offline Predator Don

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2011, 07:03:49 PM »
Not only do they have all these redundant programs, but when have any of the various issues allegedly addressed by these agencies ever actually improved? Wasn't the massive explosion in the size of government under LBJ's Great Society supposed to end poverty, or at least significantly reduce it? Yet I still hear poverty being cited as an American crisis and reason for this or that public expense. Homelessness? I can still find panhandlers at the top of the off-ramps.

I think you can make the case that IDP makes above. But another glaring case that needs to be made is that these stupid-ass wasteful programs don't even remedy the very things their existence is predicated upon. The bigger message that needs to be hammered home is that not only is government wasteful, it doesn't even work.

The only program where we need redundancy is NASA....and Obama has shut it down. Go figure.

The case is there...the new deal was a tee total failure.
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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2011, 07:34:08 PM »

...

... Maybe they oppose the proposed spending cuts because they know they are symbolic, temporary, and will lull voters into believing that something is being done, when the truth is that unless the cuts are systemic, they will accomplish nothing tangible or permanent, and possibly undermine the momentum for real systemic spending cuts.
 ::thinking::
...

Sometimes you are much too generous.

Giuliani's broken windows theorem applies here: start enforcing the smallest infraction and it will become natural to enforce the large one's. As Nancy said, "Just say no".



Offline John Florida

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Re: The GAO Report: Coburn Hints That It Will Be...
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2011, 09:01:05 PM »
assholes each and every one of them. They damned well better know where to start cutting now!
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