WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today testified at a Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Trimming the Fat: Examining Duplicative and Outdated Federal Programs and Functions.” Brownback is the author of the Commission on the Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies Act, or CARFA, which was the main focus of the hearing.

“Federal waste is a grave disservice to hardworking taxpayers across our great nation, and yet our governmental bureaucracies are riddled with it—whether through unnecessary duplicative, inefficient, outdated or failed agencies and programs,” Brownback testified. “The use of hard-earned taxpayer dollars on duplicative, inefficient, and failed federal agencies and programs is a serious problem facing our nation today. Over and over, we see congressionally authorized programs become institutionalized; and then—though no longer necessary—they become permanent fixtures receiving more taxpayer dollars year after year. The CARFA Act is the antidote to the general unwillingness of Congress to end politicians’ pet-projects.”

Brownback’s legislation would establish a two-year, presidentially-appointed commission to review domestic discretionary spending programs and agencies, recommending elimination or reform where waste, fraud, and abuse are found. Upon completion of its work, the commission would report back to Congress with draft legislation to implement its recommendations. Congress would subsequently be required to vote either up or down on the recommendations, thus eliminating the protection so often afforded to the undeserving bureaucracy.

Brownback continued, “The trouble is that once a program comes into existence, experience tells us that the program is here to stay—whether it is successful, unsuccessful, or outdated. This problem is epidemic, and the evidence abounds that programs simply ‘do not go gentle into the good night.’ Indeed, as President Reagan noted, ‘There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program.’ CARFA is designed for success using a narrow set of criteria, which should produce significant results by rooting out duplicative, wasteful, inefficient, outdated and/or failed federal programs.”

The three areas of review recommended under CARFA are:

Duplicative – Where two or more agencies or programs are performing the same essential function and the function can be consolidated or streamlined into a single agency or program, the commission would recommend that the agency or program be realigned.

Wasteful or Inefficient – Where the commission finds an agency or program to have wasted federal funds by egregious spending; mismanagement of resources or personnel; or use of federal funds for personal benefit or for the benefit of a special interest group, it would recommend that such agency or program be realigned or eliminated.

Outdated, Irrelevant, or Failed – Where the commission finds that an agency or program has completed its intended purpose; become irrelevant; or failed to meet its objectives, it would recommend the elimination of such agency or program.

Congress would consider this legislation on an expedited basis with a comment period from the committees of jurisdiction. Within the expedited time-frame, Congress would take an up-or-down vote on the legislation as a whole without amendment.

“CARFA is about maximizing the benefit of all federal funds,” Brownback concluded. “Significant savings could result from CARFA, which could be directed toward higher Congressional priorities, such as paying down the national debt. It is my hope that enactment of CARFA would provide a real tool at the service of the federal government, in order that we can better prioritize spending, and shift funds from less beneficial to more beneficial areas. I believe Americans would greatly benefit from such a commission, which has the real potential to help us truly root out inefficiency in the federal government in such a way that we can more fully realize the benefit of all federal funds. That is the spirit of the CARFA Act.”

The Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia also heard testimony from Clay Johnson, Deputy Director for OMB, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Citizens for a Sound Economy, and Paul Weinstein of the Progressive Policy Institute.