How To Trim Spending
by Sen. Tom Coburn

Savings Options Compared to Congressional Budget Office “Baseline” Estimates

Savings, in billions of dollars

Significant savings can be found if the federal government curbs its lavish spending habits. The following table shows the differences, in billions of dollars, between the August 2005 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) "baseline" spending estimates and different spending scenarios.

Examples of Wasteful Washington Spending

The following examples of wasteful spending were uncovered by the Senate subcommittee on federal financial management, chaired by Senator Tom Coburn.

• At least $45 billion each year is being wasted in improper payments by the federal government – and that amount only covers a limited number of federal agencies. If the 3.9% rate of known improper payments is applied to the entire federal government, elimination of these improper payments could save taxpayers at least $100 billion each year.
• The General Services Administration, the chief procurement agency for the entire federal government, charges “middle-man” fees of almost $20 billion to purchase $66 billion worth of goods and services for the government. That equals a “middle-man” fee of nearly 30%, even though the private sector usually charges less than 5% for the same services.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the nation’s accounting watchdog, has seen cost overruns of $47 million on its building projects. The SEC’s building project costs, estimated to total $22 million, have instead tripled to $69 million.
• The U.S. Agency on International Development spent less than 10% of its $90 million malaria budget to purchase products that treat or prevent malaria. The agency spent less than 1% of its malaria budget on drugs to prevent or treat a curable disease that is the leading killer of children in Africa.

Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), is a member of the United States Senate.

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