Katie Couric Critiques Government Redundancy?

Katie Couric’s got some recommendations for government to get less redundant.

First, a hat tip to our friend Ed O’Keefe, Federal Eye at the Washington Post, who found this fun nugget.

So I’ll say it again in case you couldn’t believe your eyes (ha ha – and to be redundant): Katie Couric offered a quick critique of the GAO Report released last week. Here’s the one-minute “Notebook” segment from Katie:

Katie Couric on Government Redundancies

In case you missed the report, I plucked ten out of the 34 to highlight:

Agriculture

• Fragmented food safety system has caused inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources (15 agencies are involved in some way)

Defense

• Realigning DOD’s military medical command structures and consolidating common functions could increase efficiency and result in projected savings ranging from $281 million to $460 million annually (overlaps military branches)

Economic Development

• The federal approach to surface transportation is fragmented, lacks clear goals, and is not accountable for Five agencies within DOT (over 100 programs)

Energy

• Addressing duplicative federal efforts directed at increasing domestic ethanol production could reduce revenue losses by up to $5.7 billion annually (EPA and the Department of the Treasury both involved)

General Government

• Consolidating federal data centers provides opportunity to improve government efficiency and achieve significant cost savings (24 federal agencies)

Health

• Opportunities exist to jointly modernize electronic health record systems to control drug costs and increase joint contracting whenever it is cost-effective (DOD and VA)
• Need an overall strategy to better integrate nationwide public health information systems (Multiple agencies, led by HHS)

Homeland Security

• DHS could streamline mechanisms for sharing security- related information with public transit agencies to help funded by DHS and TSA address overlapping information (Three information-sharing mechanisms)

International

• Lack of information sharing could create the potential for Principally DOD and the U.S. Agency for affairs duplication of efforts between U.S. agencies involved in development efforts in Afghanistan

Social Services

• Better coordination of federal homelessness programs may minimize fragmentation and overlap Seven federal agencies, including Education, HHS, and HUD (over 20 programs involved)

Training, Employment and Education

• Teacher quality: proliferation of programs complicates federal efforts to invest dollars effectively, ten agencies including DOD, Education,Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation (82 programs involved)

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Which program from among the 34 would you prioritize for immediate consolidation or cuts? Does the President’s budget align with this report?

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