[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW REPORT

  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, last Wednesday marked the 1-year anniversary 
of the administration's publication of its National Performance Review 
report. Led by the Vice President, the National Performance Review was 
an effort to begin a process that has sometimes been described as 
``reinventing government.''
  I would like to take a few moments here to comment on the progress to 
date on the effort.
  The NPR report contained 384 recommendations for changes in the way 
the Federal Government is organized and operates. At the time of its 
release, I commended the administration on the scope of this effort. 
While not necessarily agreeing with every single item in the report, I 
thought the NPR asked many of the right questions about how to make 
government do more, with less--and that the report's recommendations 
were generally headed in the right direction. I still feel that way 
today. Any concerns I have lie largely in the area of execution of the 
reforms.
  Let me say, first, that much of what they have done is commendable--
starting with the administration's enthusiastic support for my 
legislation, the Government Performance and Results Act. This new law, 
enacted last year, was described by then-OMB Director Leon Panetta as 
being the foundation for reinventing government. They supported my call 
for a series of pilot projects in program goal-setting and performance 
measurement, to be followed by full governmentwide implementation in 
1997--and in fact have expanded the number of pilot projects to 71 
Federal programs.
  I am sure that the administration recognizes what was emphasized in a 
recent report published by the Brookings Institution, an independent 
Washington think tank--that the Government Performance and Results Act 
``may well prove to be the keystone of the Federal Government's 
reinvention movement,'' and that it is ``the most promising source of 
glue to hold the movement together and promote the right incentives.''

  It may seem ironic that a Republican-authored bill is the keystone--
the very foundation--of a Democratic administration's major government 
reform program. Perhaps, but it does show that there are indeed areas 
where we should be able to work in the kind of bipartisan spirit that 
the American people expect.
  I am also pleased to have been able to work with the administration 
on two other reforms that rightly fall under the umbrella of 
reinventing government--procurement reform, and legislation mandating 
the downsizing of the Federal work force by 272,900 through buyouts and 
attrition. We are reinventing the Federal procurement system by making 
it more results-based, rather than process-based. And if we follow on 
our work force downsizing with a true reinvention of our Federal pay 
and personnel systems, we will indeed be able to do more, with less.
  However, it is here that I must raise one concern I have about 
implementation of NPR recommendations. I know that the administration 
plans to propose soon a reform of the Federal personnel system. It is 
my hope that the proposal will be revolutionary--calling for a 
comprehensive overhaul of the way we hire, classify, promote, pay, and 
fire Federal employees. My fear is that what is coming will be just be 
some marginal modifications to the existing system.
  But marginal fixes are not enough. Not if we are going to eliminate 
management layers, giving the remaining managers and supervisors more 
discretion in their decision-making, while holding them more 
accountable for program performance. Results-oriented government 
requires results-oriented management, pay, and personnel systems. The 
Federal Government is a long way from those kinds of systems. They need 
reinvention, not modification.
  Another concern I have is that I see the various reforms coming out 
of the National Performance Review as being advanced as a series of 
discrete, unconnected efforts. Budget process reform is unconnected to 
financial management reform, which is unconnected to customer service 
reform, which are all unconnected to civil service reform.
  However, to really make reinventing government work, all of these 
pieces have to be interrelated. The Government Performance and Results 
Act envisions such an interrelationship--by trying long-term strategic 
planning, to annual program performance plans, which in turn should be 
tied directly into agency budgets. The law also encourages giving 
managers more flexibility, if their pay is linked to improved program 
performance. Improved customer service should be one key element in a 
program's annual performance plan.
  But what I have not seen from the administration is a real 
understanding of the need for connecting, in a meaningful way, all of 
these pieces of government reform. NPR implementation is beginning to 
look like a scattershot effort--a laundry list of good ideas, but no 
coherent plan for tying them together into a comprehensive, inter-
connected scheme. And there does not seem to be an effective strategy 
for getting congressional support.
  As a result, we see things unraveling at times. For example, last 
October the administration had introduced into Congress H.R. 3400, a 
150-page bill containing 70 miscellaneous proposals from the NPR. That 
has now been whittled-down to a 17-page bill, with a small handful of 
items, that is still in the process of working its way through 
Congress.
  As I said at the beginning, Mr. President, I applaud the 
administration--and particularly the Vice President--for the effort 
begun by the National Performance Review. I know they remain committed 
to this effort. And I want to help them get it enacted and make it 
work. But doing so will require more comprehensive policy coordination, 
better legislative strategizing, and closer cooperation with both sides 
of the aisle in Congress. And most of all, we must remain bold in our 
vision of how to reinvent the Federal Government.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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