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Autopilot Budgeting: Will Congress Ever Respond to Government Performance Data?
June 13, 2006
This is testimony given by Eileen Norcross on June 13, 2006, before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the federal government has created over 1000 programs to address policy issues ranging from alleviating poverty to curing disease to protecting the nation. Some of these have been around for decades and have spent billions in trying to achieve their goals. However, in many cases we do not know if they are working. Unless Congress has information on program performance, it cannot make informed decisions about how to spend resources. More importantly, it cannot effectively accomplish its policy aims.
