Reducing the size and cost of government is a major priority for former President, Donald Trump
Washington, D.C.: The United States (U.S.) must confront Federal Government spending. U.S. national debt is now $35.7 trillion USD. This is larger than the country’s $29 trillion USD Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Paying interest on the debt now exceeds $658 billion USD a year. This debt service is becoming an increasingly large part of annual spending for the Federal Government.
Reducing the size and cost of government is a major priority for former President, Donald Trump.
He is promoting Elon Musk’s plan to find and cut trillions of dollars in Federal Government waste.
Musk will only succeed if he moves boldly and learns from the past. His current plan to build a bureaucracy to fight bureaucracy will end in frustration.
The Federal bureaucracy has fended off countless similar efforts.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan established something similar to Musk’s proposed effort. The Grace Commission was charged with identifying and eradicating waste. Reagan first used the phrase, “Drain the Swamp” as part of the Commission’s mission.
Businessman, J. Peter Grace, formed the President’s Private Sector Survey for Cost Control (PPSSCC) as a separate organization funded by private sources. Over 150 prominent business leaders volunteered their time as overseers and members of the PPSSCC Task Forces. Its 36 task forces generated 2,478 recommendations that identified $424 billion USD ($1,243 billion in 2024 value) to be saved in three years. Congress ignored them all.
Earlier government waste initiatives include the 1974-76 Commission on Federal Paperwork. It was designed to assess paperwork burdens and implement the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Commission employed hundreds of people to review government forms and processes.
This was my first job in Washington, DC. As a graduate student at American University, I was a management analyst for the Housing Task Force. One of my most surreal findings was a 36 foot (12 meter) long flow chart for applying to build government subsidized housing. The report’s 800 recommendations were issued and vanished. Very few of the recommendations were implemented.
Vice President Al Gore led the “National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR)” initiative under President Bill Clinton. It intended “to make the federal government work better, cost less, and get results Americans care about”. During its five years, it was a catalyst for several operational changes, including the elimination of over 100 programs, the use of performance measurements, and expanding technology.
However, it promised savings of $207 billion USD never materialized.
There are other ways to rein in government waste. They just haven’t been used.
Every year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and 73 Department and Agency based Inspector General Offices issue reports. Annually they uncover over $650 billion USD in waste. These reports include recommended actions. Virtually none of them are implemented.
One example: Improper payments (payments that are made incorrectly) cost the U.S. over $200 billion USD a year. The GAO estimates that the U.S. government has lost almost $2.4 trillion USD in simple payment errors over the last two decades. No action has been taken.
Every year outsiders expose government waste.
Senator Rand Paul issues his Annual “Festivus Report” each December. It focuses on dubious grants and contracts. His 2023 report revealed the U.S. government paid $900 billion for worthless research, fraudulent claims, and subsidies to domestic millionaires and foreign tyrants. Some of his specific findings included: an National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study Russian cats walking on a treadmill, Barbies used as proof of ID for receiving COVID Paycheck Protection Program funds, $6 million to promote tourism in Egypt, and $200 million to ‘struggling artists’ like Post Malone, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne.
Senator James Lanford issues his “Federal Fumbles Report” that highlights laughable waste.
Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual “Pig Book” illuminates questionable earmarks (now called Congressionally Directed Spending).
The challenge is not finding the waste, but actually doing something about it.
There are steps that should be taken.
STEP ONE: CLEAN HOUSE
The U.S. Government’s Executive Branch includes mostly career personnel. They are selected through a competitive application process. Once past a probationary period they can only be removed for cause.
However, there are thousands of Executive Branch personnel who hold “policy positions” and are not eligible for career status protection. These individuals are appointed by the President and his Office of Presidential Personnel (OPP). They are “at will” employees and may be removed at any time for any reason. The listing of these policy positions is known as the “Plum Book”. It lists around 8,000 personnel that have limited or no career protection.
As Director of Personnel for the Reagan Campaign and Transition, I looked at organizational charts for all career personnel who directly reported to policy officials or worked in policy offices. There were also hundreds of agency and programmatic advisory boards and committees with their own support staff. All of these people, upwards of 50,000, can be transferred or reassigned to clear operational pathways.
Only the Reagan Transition of 1980-81 completely cleared the policy and operational pathways. This allowed the “Reagan Revolution” to move rapidly on a broad front to fundamentally change U.S. domestic and foreign policy.
An incoming Presidential Administration usually asks for the resignations from every political appointee from the prior administration. However, some do not comply. Other “holdovers” find career positions. Some create consulting arrangements to remain on the public payroll.
The Executive Branch is awash with contractors. Many of them owe their allegiance to prior administrations. All have a vested interest in garnering more money for themselves. A detailed review of these contracts and contractors can empty out large swaths of those loyal to the “status quo”. Many of these contracts may be poorly written and administered. Some may have no real value. Ending these contracts will save billions.
STEP TWO: TAKE CONTROL
A new President is like a ship’s captain. They stand on the ship’s bridge to control its course. In reality, this “captain” initially has no control beyond the bridge. The size and complexity of the Federal Government hampers any change of course. Too many activities have lives of their own, managed by individuals who are wedded to the “status quo”.
A new President needs to insert “Change Teams”, professionals skilled and committed to making the new Administration an immediate operational reality, into all Cabinet Departments and major agencies to instantly end the previous era. This means full control of every key decision. This covers all legal, regulatory, procurement, personnel, grants, and expenditures.
Nothing should happen until signed off by the Change Teams.
Locking everything down also means revoking all delegations of authority and forcing every action, communication, and policy into the hands of the Change Teams immediately. The Change Teams must literally patrol the corridors and rattle doorknobs to make sure no one is extending the actions of the prior era. The first few days of Reagan’s Presidency found numerous examples of career employees refusing to yield. In one case, a grant administrator had to be physically stopped from approving $350,000 USD of Carter era grants still sitting on his desk.
Bringing in new people who are loyal and competent is vital. So is finding and promoting their career counterparts. Whistleblowers exposed many problems during the Biden-Harris Administration. They should become key advisors for identifying career allies and ferreting out resistance.
Both Republican and Democrat political appointees complain that their career colleagues often hide, spin, or fake facts. This is not partisan. Careerists want to protect their power, turf, reputation, and pet projects. In many cases, careerists go through the motions of supporting the new Administration without doing anything. Discovering and thwarting “Malicious Compliance” is a major challenge. This even happens within the Office of the President as this organization is filled with career employees.
The transition planning process needs to start identifying trusted colleagues ASAP. These may be whistleblowers who will embrace change, and confidential sources who have already proven themselves credible to Congress and media allies. This first wave of trusted professionals identifies those they trust, and so on, until there is a critical mass to substantively shift policy and operational direction throughout the Executive Branch.
STEP THREE: FOLLOW THE MONEY
Approximately $1.028 trillion USD remains unexpended among general accounts and $461 billion USD remains unspent in trust funds. While these funds are technically obligated, the fact that they have languished for years raises questions about their use and management. These funds can be reclaimed and reused.
Look for the accounting code “1941” on federal agency accounts. This code is for “unexpired unobligated balances”. Another database is expired grant accounts. The GAO uncovered 7,500 just in Department of Health & Human Services’ Payment Management System. Thousands of lapsed grant accounts are briming with money that will never be used but can be reclaimed.
The late Senator, Tom Coburn, exposed these funds in a detailed report, “Money for Nothing”. Nothing was done. The U.S. media ignored his findings.
Another code is the “Current Services Budget”, or “Baseline” budget. This outlines how much it costs to maintain existing services at current levels. It factors in various cost drivers – cost of living increases, escalation clauses in contracts, etc. Funding above “Current Service” is a spending increase. This is a built in “ratchet effect” to expanding government.
STEP FOUR: ELIMINATE PROGRAMS
Congress is the headwaters of expanding government. Every year new programs, entities, and reporting requirements are established. Members from both parties jealously guard their progeny.
Reviewing which ones are obsolete and duplicative may shame some in Congress to let them fade away. Some may have lost their protection as their creator has left Congress. It took years for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process to eliminate obsolete facilities.
Abolition opportunities abound for those programs directly created by the Executive Branch. These have no basis in law but are created under the concept of “management by news release”. One day stories that result in never ending wasteful activity. Other programs are training projects to promote specific ideological ends, such as climate change, critical race theory, and transgender awareness.
Eliminating whole Agencies and Departments requires more courage than exists in Congress.
STEP FIVE: REDUCE PERSONNEL
Instituting a real hiring freeze will rapidly drop numbers through retirements and “churn” (people leaving government to take nongovernment jobs). Special exemptions will be required as specific vacancies for performing real tasks arise. These waivers should only be granted by the Change Teams. Do not conduct mass firings or “Reduction in Force” (RIFs). This triggers an array of procedural impediments and legal actions.
Reagan’s General Services Administration (GSA) cut nearly two thirds of its workforce in three years using a hiring freeze without a RIF. No legal action occurred.
Congress establishes programs and organizations, but rarely details how they are staffed or managed. This is the best opportunity to delayer, reduce, and consolidate.
The private sector has found that 2-5 layers of management are more than adequate to assure success. Corporate performance “dashboards”, knowledge management, and empowering/enabling front line workers led to abolishing the antiquated concepts of span of control, pecking order, and fiefdoms. It is time for the Federal Government to join the 21st Century and eliminate up to 23 layers of obsolete command & control supervisors, countless numbers of extraneous planning staffs, and unnecessary program overseers.
Americans deserve value from every dollar spent.
They rarely receive even $0.12 USD of value per $1.00 USD.
Many dollars spent generate no value at all.
It is long overdue to fight Federal Government waste and win.
* Scot Faulkner served as Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was Director of Personnel for the 1980 Reagan Campaign, served on the Presidential Transition team, and on Reagan’s White House Staff. He currently advises corporations on strategic change.