Mr. President, your call for fiscal responsibility in spending the Recovery Act tax dollars has the agreement of every American. It won't be an easy job. But, it would seem to me, there is at least one, simple driving function that you can use, namely the performance standards of every Government manager.
Performing the mission under budget is NOT, and never has been a job standard in government. In fact, the whole Executive Branch operates on the premise that turning money back to the Treasury is a sin. "Year End Obligations" is what the annual September ritual is known as. I believe you can issue and Executive Order that makes "fiscal performance against budget" a mandatory performance standard for all Government managers. A standard that clearly states that coming in under budget will be rewarded. In fact, I think, it needs to be the standard with the most weight, to motivate the behavior you are expecting from your workforce.
Congress, historically, also sees the appropriations as "must spend" amounts, where wasting tax dollars to meet obligation goals is inherent. Perhaps you'd need bi-Partisan agreement and support for the Executive Order to change their mindset. But which representative of the tax payers will oppose budgets as maximums, and instead, publicly support fiscal irresponsibility? I think you can drive this through.
Mr. President, you promised us change. Turning the Federal Government into an organization that puts primary value on conserving the tax payer's money would be a huge , and welcome change. One that perhaps all levels of government could adopt.
Start Fiscal Responsibility in Government - all it would take is your Executive Order !
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