[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 2, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H1462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GAO REPORT ON WASTEFUL SPENDING

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Government 
Accountability Office released a report detailing billions of dollars 
of waste in the Federal Government. Redundant and ineffective programs 
infect the government like a plague. For too long, Congress has punted 
on its responsibility to rein in wasteful spending. And when I read 
this report, I had the same feeling as my constituents did. I hated it.
  According to the report, there are 15 agencies implementing Federal 
laws on food safety. There are 80 different programs and numerous 
agencies that work on economic development, 24 Federal agencies for 
information technology, and 82 programs dealing with teacher quality 
across multiple agencies. What is this costing us? Billions. Who's 
paying for it? You guessed it, the American taxpayer.
  The American taxpayers' dollars are being wasted by keeping these 
redundant programs on the books. We should immediately begin looking at 
ways to eliminate redundancy, stop wasting billions of tax dollars, and 
allow hardworking Americans to keep more of what they earn.

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