Thank you, Chairman Voinovich. As always, it is a pleasure to work with you to increase government accountability. I look forward to today's hearing, and I join you in welcoming David Walker, the Comptroller General, and Clay Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Deputy Director of Management, to examine the progress being made on Government Accountability Office's (GAO) high-risk list.
You noted that this mid-course review is our sixth hearing in 12 months to focus on high-risk government programs identified by GAO. The people of Ohio and the nation are fortunate to have you in the Senate, Mr. Chairman. Your continued leadership -- and that of our distinguished witnesses -- is improving government operations.
Reducing the number of programs susceptible to waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement will save the American taxpayers billions of dollars -- improve federal services -- and help reestablish the trust we should have in government.
As the ranking member of both this Subcommittee and the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, I am shocked that the Department of Defense (DoD) continues to have more programs on the high-risk list than any other federal agency. Because of this outrageous imbalance, Senator Voinovich and I have focused our efforts on improving DoD's high-risk programs. One such area is supply chain management, which includes an inventory valued at $77 billion and an annual expenditure of over $7 billion on logistics operations. And yet, supply chain management has been on GAO's high-risk list since 1990 -- that's 16 years!
Ignoring the long-term, systemic problems associated with supply chain management harms our troops on the ground and is just plain wrong. However, I am optimistic that with the partnerships undertaken by DoD, OMB, and GAO, and with our continued oversight -- we will be successful in strengthening supply chain management.
I am particularly interested in one change -- the Joint Regional Material Management (JRIMM) which is operated by the Defense Logistics Agency. The JRIMM concept seeks to eliminate duplicative inventories and streamline the flow of material. After a successful pilot program with the Navy in San Diego, the concept has been expanded to the Island of Oahu and encompasses all military Services. Right now the Services are testing the JRIMM concept by using the Defense Distribution Depot, Pearl Harbor, as the hub for inventory distribution throughout Oahu. I wish DLA and JRIMM success in what I hope will be a state-of-the-art, centralized logistics supply center. GAO and OMB are working with DLA to ensure that this new system will have the needed metrics and controls in place to manage effectively DoD's supply chain system.
Yet, despite positive steps forward, we must remember that without sustained leadership, neither incremental changes nor wholesale transformation will be integrated into an agency's management culture. That's why I have sponsored legislation with Senator Voinovich and Senator Ensign to establish a deputy director for management at DoD. Our measure was introduced at the recommendation of the Comptroller General, and I thank him for his steadfast support of the chief management officer concept. Senator Voinovich and I have also introduced similar legislation for the Department of Homeland Security to help the new department avoid the same long-term management problems plaguing DoD.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to our continued partnership in attacking waste and mismanagement of government programs. We must take this opportunity to instill sound management practices within federal agencies so that the taxpayer's dollars are used most effectively. Thank you.
