The Office of Management and Budget has released details
on the 141 programs it has proposed for termination or
reductions in the fiscal 2007 budget that it says could
save about $15 billion.
OMB said last year Congress managed to save $6.5 billion
by adopting 89 of the 154 proposed reductions and
terminations proposed in the 2006 budget and the White
House wants to cut even more discretionary spending on
non-security programs this year.
It would terminate 91 programs and reduce 50 others, with
the Departments of Education, Agriculture, and Health and
Human Services the hardest hit, and seeks to reduce
mandatory spending by $65 billion over the next five years
by cutting back entitlement programs in order to keep
other priorities alive, such as making the President’s
tax cuts permanent.
The tax cuts provide a sharp contrast to efforts to save
funds by cutting or scaling back programs. According to
the Brookings Institution, making the 2001, 2002, and 2003
tax cuts permanent would reduce revenues by $1.7 trillion
through 2014, minus associated costs.
However, keeping with its overall performance management
theme, OMB said the program recommendations are largely,
but not entirely, based on the program assessment rating
tool scores. It also renewed its call for the establishment
of so-called sunset and results commissions, a White House
proposal to establish panels to review programs every 10
years.
If a sunset commission recommended eliminating a program,
Congress would be required to vote to reauthorize it or
it would be terminated.
The results commission would study inter-agency
collaboration and recommend improvements.
The savings and reforms document is available at
