[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    FEDERAL GOVERNMENT VEHICLE FLEET

  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, with a $16.5 trillion national debt, the 
Federal Government needs to spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and 
reduce costs during these tough fiscal times.
  In 2011, the Federal Government owned nearly 660,000 vehicles. 
Although the size of the fleet decreased slightly from the previous 
year, it had still increased significantly over the past several years. 
Between 2006 and 2011, the Federal Government fleet has grown by more 
than 29,000 vehicles.
  A 2012 Government Accountability Office, GAO, report examined the 
increase in the number of Federal vehicles, excluding postal and 
nontactical military vehicles. According to the study: ``Since fiscal 
year 2005, the number of federal non-postal civilian and non-tactical 
military vehicles has increased about 7 percent, from about 420,000 to 
449,000 vehicles.''
  On February 28, 2013, I introduced bipartisan legislation that would 
save millions in taxpayer dollars by reducing the amount the Federal 
Government can spend on buying and leasing nonessential vehicles. In 
its recommendations, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility 
and Reform strongly endorsed trimming the Federal vehicle fleet, and 
estimated it would save approximately $500 million.
  This bill would reduce by 20 percent the Federal funding available 
for the acquisition and leasing of new Federal vehicles. It would also 
require agencies to maintain this funding level through 2017. Like the 
Fiscal Commission, however, this bill exempts the U.S. Postal Service 
from the reduction. It also provides an exception for vehicle purchases 
critical for national security reasons. Similar legislation passed by 
voice vote in the House of Representatives in September 2012.
  This legislation would simply do what most American families are 
doing on a day-to-day basis. The Federal Government has to learn more 
with less.
  I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support this 
commonsense legislation. I want to thank my colleagues for the 
opportunity to speak on the Senate floor today in support of this bill.

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