The 161-member business-oriented efficiency panel, which compiled a two-volume report recommending ways the government can slash federal spending, has performed a potentially valuable public service.
The big question now:
When, how, and to what extent will official Washington act to put the reforms into effect to improve efficiency and cut unconscionable deficits? The study says federal spending can be cut by $424.4 billion over three years.
President Reagan has promised his cooperation to implement provisions of the report as practical. What about his successor, should a new President be elected? And will Congress and the bureaucracy catch the spirit of the effort?
As J. Peter Grace, chairman of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, declaredI It’s high time that government bring red ink spending under control.
Last year’s deficit was a record $195.4 billion and Congress has balanced the budget only eight times in the last 53 years! The national debt is near the $1.5 trillion mark and going up.
Grace has charged that with all its fine achievements, government “is run horribly” and that private companies could not survive “if managed the same way.”
The 18-month study by the business executives offered 2,478 recommendations that the President, Congress and individual agencies could put in place to control spending and institute management practices used in private business.
These deal with such matters as extravagant pension plans, human, and computer efficiency, purchasing on a competitive basms, a war on waste, tougher collection policies, crackdown on tax cheaters and abolishing unnecessary jobs and government operations.
Candidates for President and Congress as well as present officers should familiarize themselves with the report and express their views on the issues involved.
In any event, the Private Sector Survey report must not be allowed to be forgotten. On the contrary, it should be examined and debated case by case and implemented as wisdom dictates.