Original Jurisdiction Hearing
Hearing on the President's "Freedom to Manage" Initiative
TIME: 4:00 PM
ROOM: H-313 The Capitol
WITNESSES
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Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN), Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs
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Sean O’Keefe, Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget
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David M. Walker, Comptroller General, General Accounting Office
PURPOSE OF THE HEARING
The purpose of the hearing is to examine the President’s “Freedom to Manage” initiative, which is a component of the “President’s Management Agenda” and was transmitted to Congress on October 17, 2001. Specifically, the hearing will seek to determine the scope of the initiative and the kind of authority that Congress should grant to the President for any recommended statutory changes he may propose.
BACKGROUND AND LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
In his August 25, 2001, weekly radio address to the nation, President Bush announced the release of The President's Management Agenda, a report identifying 14 management problems in the federal government and offering specific solutions to address them. The report urged "rethinking government," called for a reduction of middle management, and championed "results-oriented" and "market-based" administration. It proposed five government-wide initiatives: strategic management of human capital, competitive outsourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government, and budget and performance integration. Its nine specific program initiatives included a reiteration of support for reducing barriers to the delivery of federally funded social services by faith-based and community groups.
Legislative proposals in support of the agenda include the "Freedom to Manage of 2001" legislation, creating a fast-track arrangement to eliminate agency-identified statutory barriers to efficient management, and the “Managerial Flexibility Act of 2001,” which aims to provide federal managers with tools and flexibility in areas such as personnel, budgeting, and property management and disposal.
Senator Thompson introduced S. 1613, which encompasses the Freedom to Manage Act, on November 1, 2001. At the same time, he introduced S. 1612, which encompasses the Managerial Flexibility Act of 2001.
According to the “President’s Management Agenda,” the need to reform government programs and agencies is urgent. The General Accounting Office (GAO) “high-risk” list identifies areas throughout federal government that are most vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse. Ten years ago, the GAO listed eight such areas. Today it lists 22. New programs are frequently created with little review or assessment of the already-existing programs to address the same perceived problem. Over time, numerous programs with overlapping missions and competing agendas grow alongside one another, wasting money and resources.
Despite this pressing need for reform, the obstacles to achieving it are daunting. The constant multiplication of new programs continually overwhelms the work of reform, and historically Congress, the Executive Branch, and the media have all shown far greater interest in launching new initiatives than in following up to see if anything useful has occurred in those already in existence.
The President has proposed the “Freedom to Manage Act of 2001” as the first step for reforming the government. In his transmittal letter, President Bush asked the Congress “to join with my Administration in making a commitment to reform the Federal Government by eliminating obstacles to its efficient operations.” He went on to say: “As barriers to more efficient management are removed, the Nation will rightly expect a higher level of performance from its Federal Government. Giving our Federal managers ‘freedom to manage’ will enable the Federal Government to improve its performance and accountability and better serve the public.”
11/01/01 – Senator Fred Thompson introduced S. 1613, the Freedom to Manage Act of 2001, and S. 1612, the Managerial Flexibility Act of 2001.
08/25/01 – President George W. Bush, in his radio address to the nation, announced the release of the President's Management Agenda, a report identifying 14 management problems in the federal government and offering specific solutions to address them.
07/18/01 – OMB Director Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., on behalf of President Bush, apprised executive department and agency heads of administration efforts to develop an electronic government action plan using an interagency task force to be headed by OMB Associate Director for Information Technology and E-Government Mark Forman.
03/28/00 – Senator Fred Thompson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, introduced legislation (S. 2306), with bipartisan sponsorship, mandating a nine-member Commission on Government Restructuring and Reform to make recommendations to the President and Congress to improve the organization and operations of the executive branch of the federal government for the 21st century.
01/01/98 – The National Performance Review became the National Partnership for Reinventing Government.
01/11/97 – At a Blair House meeting of the new Cabinet, Vice President Gore presented a brief set of papers, which he dubbed "reinvention marching orders," emphasizing three themes: improved service delivery; use of partnerships and community-based strategies to solve problems, not big government; and techniques for improving performance in a time of diminishing resources, including the use of performance-based organizations. The issuance of the Blair House papers marked the beginning of a new stage of the NPR.
09/09/96 – The National Performance Review marked its third-year anniversary, reporting that 43% of its initial 833 agency action items were completed and 42% were in progress, and 49% of its initial 430 management systems action items were completed and 49% were in progress; of an additional 187 recommendations, 19% were completed and 62% were in progress; "savings of about $97.4 billion have been ensured through legislative or administrative action" and an "additional $5.2 billion in savings is contained in legislation pending before Congress;" and, as of January 1996, an executive workforce reduction of nearly 240,000 employees had been realized.
09/11/95 – The National Performance Review marked its second year anniversary, reporting that 32% of its initial agency action items were completed and 61% were in progress, and 27% of its initial 417 management systems action items were completed and 63% were in progress; more than 180 additional recommendations had been made; and "about $57.7 billion of [approximately $108 billion] projected savings have been achieved" and an "additional $4.3 billion in savings are currently pending before Congress."
01/12/95 – Vice President Gore, OMB Director Alice Rivlin, and other officials formally launch Phase 2 of the National Performance Review.
09/27/94 – Republican leaders of the House of Representatives unveiled a "Contract With America" reform plan with core principles that regard the federal government as being too big, spending too much, unresponsive to the citizenry, and the perpetrator of burdensome regulations.
09/14/94 – The National Performance Review marked its one-year anniversary, reporting that over 90% of its recommendations "are under way," implementation occurring through 22 presidential directives, several enacted bills, and a variety of agency actions, with the result that "$46.9 billion of NPR's $108 billion in proposed savings are already enacted" and another "$16 billion in savings is pending before Congress."
09/07/93 – The National Performance Review provided its final report to President Clinton, offering some 380 major recommendations for government reform. The bulk of these proposals concerned management improvement, but several were directed at agency reorganization, consolidation, and field structure overhaul.
03/03/93 – President Clinton announced he was initiating a National Performance Review, to be headed by Vice President Gore, to evaluate the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of every federal program and service, and make recommendations for "reinventing government," including proposals for executive branch reorganization.
