A fresh perspective on government waste.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Watch

U.S. government spending cuts have seized national attention as the impact of leaner budgets is felt across the American economy.

Amid the screaming and gnashing of teeth over the looming cuts is the inconvenient reality that government--and the Pentagon more than any other agency--is bloated and now might be an opportune time to put it on a crash diet.

The prospect of $1.2 trillion brutally excised from federal agencies' future budgets--as a result of the 2011 deficit-reduction deal that Congress passed--has many lawmakers in a panic. Even deficit hawks who attack federal spending as a matter of religion are recognizing that it is important to differentiate between wasteful expenditures and worthy programs.

"Too often the distinction between needed services and wasteful government gets blurred perhaps for political purposes," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, chairman of the House Oversight and Government

Reform Committee.

During a recent committee hearing, it dawned on members that if Congress truly had the political will to identify real inefficiencies and pointless programs across government, the savings would more than offset the $1.2 trillion "sequester."

The Government Accountability Office has published dozens of reports identifying agencies that fund duplicate and overlapping projects. Congress must fix that, Issa said. "And we've never had a better reason." Ignoring the problem is no longer an option, he said. "We are running out of time."

Proposals for how to "smartly" pare government waste have emanated from countless blue-ribbon panels, think tanks and watchdog groups in Washington. And they typically are ignored.

The prospect of across-the-board cuts, however, is giving much of Capitol Hill pause.

"Here we have an opportunity with sequestration coming up," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. "If it goes into effect, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to run around with their hair on fire."

Several witnesses at the House oversight hearing offered a list of what they consider low-hanging fruit that collectively would save more than a trillion dollars over a decade--about equivalent to the sequester. Suggestions included everything from improper Medicare and Medicaid payments to overpriced weapons systems, subsidies to wealthy corporations and farmers, redundant information-technology programs, disaster insurance abuse, unneeded nuclear weapons facilities and military bases and war contracting fraud. The list goes on.

Tom...