Reducing Overhead Expenses at Federal Agencies
Senator Dorgan believes that the federal budget is on path that is unsustainable, and we need to get our deficit under control deficit in order to get the country back on track to fiscal health.
At the beginning of the 111th Congress, Senator Dorgan and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced the "Agency Administrative Expenses Reduction Act of 2009" to force federal agencies to tighten their belts and help get the deficit under control. Although this budget-cutting effort was first attempted by the Clinton Administration through a 1993 executive order, it was never implemented. The Dorgan/Coburn bill would require these budget cuts and new transparency rules by law.
Each year, federal agencies must submit their funding requests to Congress. Under this cost-saving legislation, agencies would be required to list how much funding they are requesting for administrative purposes. Every agency would then need to begin planning for budget cuts to these administration expenses through 2013. For Fiscal Year 2010, agencies would plan for a three percent cut, which would increase to an 11 percent cut by 2013.
This proposal would cut bureaucracy in the big federal agencies that have grown too large. Dorgan believes that this bill is an important step towards ensuring that taxpayer dollars are being used for critical programs that help American families and businesses - not for unnecessary administrative costs.
