Opher BanarieObama Names Chief Performance Officer
January 7th 2009 22:49
In keeping with his campaign promise to control Federal spending and to bring greater efficiency to how taxpayer dollars are spent, President-elect Barack Obama today appointed Nancy Killefer as Chief Performance Officer.
Ms. Killefer will be responsible for finding ways to eliminate waste in government spending. Few details were available over how "unnecessary spending" would be identified, let alone how to cut it from the budget.
This will probably be the first test of Obama's pledge to cut spending. The problem with the rhetoric is that all spending exists for a reason - either because of an interested constituency, a motivated member of Congress, or a crusading agency program manager. Getting cuts made will require these people to agree to cuts to programs they wanted and/or created.
Only time will show how effective these efforts will be.
UPDATE: Feb 3, 2009 - In a surprise move, Ms Killefer withdrew her name from the nomination because of undisclosed "tax issues".
"We expect that discussion around entitlements [Social Security and Medicare] will be a part, a central part of those plans," Obama said. "And I would expect that by February in line with the announcement of at least a rough budget outline we will have more to say about how we're going to approach entitlement spending."
For the first time, Obama gave a ballpark price tag for his massive economic plan aimed at generating jobs and jolting the country out of recession. Aides have said it could cost as much as $775 billion over two years. Outside economists have suggested as much as $1.2 trillion would be needed.
For the first time, Obama gave a ballpark price tag for his massive economic plan aimed at generating jobs and jolting the country out of recession. Aides have said it could cost as much as $775 billion over two years. Outside economists have suggested as much as $1.2 trillion would be needed.
Ms. Killefer will be responsible for finding ways to eliminate waste in government spending. Few details were available over how "unnecessary spending" would be identified, let alone how to cut it from the budget.
This will probably be the first test of Obama's pledge to cut spending. The problem with the rhetoric is that all spending exists for a reason - either because of an interested constituency, a motivated member of Congress, or a crusading agency program manager. Getting cuts made will require these people to agree to cuts to programs they wanted and/or created.
Only time will show how effective these efforts will be.
UPDATE: Feb 3, 2009 - In a surprise move, Ms Killefer withdrew her name from the nomination because of undisclosed "tax issues".
Killefer is the third Obama nominee to face tax troubles, following questions about Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for health and human services secretary.
Do you remember Obama promising to make a “new era of responsibility” during the campaign? We didn't know then who his picks would be, since he has never had executive responsibility. But now that names have been offered we can see that the Obama Administration will be a traditional Democratic one. In fact, it could be called Clinton III.| 54 |
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