Just the Facts from Senator Tom Coburn

Some new stuff from Senator Tom Coburn:

While many of these programs serve noble purposes, they do not serve taxpayers well. They each require their own set of federal employees, most with their own administrators and managers in Washington, DC. Each agency that duplicates a program funds a unique set of federal employees to administer them, siphoning money away from the purpose of the program.

For example:

• The US Department of Education maintains more than two dozen different study abroad grant sources or programs.
• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 69 overlapping early child education programs scattered at 10 different agencies.
• There are over 200 distinct federal programs to assist or encourage students to enter science and math career fields, maintained at 13 different federal agencies. These programs spend about $3 billion annually.
• There are at least 21 federal programs that support efforts to combat childhood obesity located at various federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education.
• There are 44 job training programs at nine federal agencies, operating at a cost of $30 billion.
• The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a federal agency, operates half a dozen duplicative programs to address the nation’s nursing workforce shortage.
• The Department of the Interior has at least four overlapping climate change wildlife adaptation programs, including the US Geological Survey, which is now launching Regional Climate Change Response Centers around the country. This does not include new climate change programs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the US Department of Agriculture.
• Seven agencies within the Department of the Interior operate overlapping invasive species programs, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service accounting for eight programs with an invasive species component. Outside of Interior, six other federal agencies administer their own invasive species programs. Finally, the federal government has created four separate councils to better coordinate various federal invasive species programs. In total, the federal government is spending a minimum of $1.4 billion annually on these overlapping programs.
• The federal government has a minimum of 16 programs at three federal agencies aimed at addressing homelessness.
• There are 23 federal programs with a senior housing component.