Downsizing Government And Setting Priorities Of Federal Programs Department Of Transportation And Related Agencies

Excerpt from Downsizing Government and Setting Priorities of Federal Programs, Vol. 1: Hearings Before Subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session Note: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Livingston, as Chairman of the Full Committee, and Mr. Obey, as Ranking Minority Member of the Full Committee, are authorized to sit as Members of all Subcommittees. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The federal government is running huge budget deficits, spending too much, and heading toward a financial crisis. Federal spending soared under President George W. Bush, and the costs of programs for the elderly are set to balloon in coming years. Hurricane Katrina has made the federal budget situation even more desperate. In Downsizing the Federal Government Cato Institute budget expert Chris Edwards provides policymakers with solutions to the growing federal budget mess. Edwards identifies more than 100 federal programs that should be terminated, transferred to the states, or privatized in order to balance the budget and save hundreds of billions of dollars. Edwards proposes a balanced reform package of cuts to entitlements, domestic programs, and excess defense spending. He argues that these cuts would not only eliminate the deficit, but also strengthen the economy, enlarge personal freedom, and leave a positive fiscal legacy for the next generation. Downsizing the Federal Government discusses the systematic causes of wasteful spending, and it overflows with examples of federal programs that are obsolete and mismanaged. The book examines the budget process and shows how policymakers act contrary to the interests of average Americans by favoring special interests.

GAO completed a Government-wide review of Federal agency' and grantee' policies and practices for managing and reporting income generated under federally assisted programs. GAO found that a number of Federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), have not established regulations conforming to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) grant-related income standards and are not adequately implementing agency grant-related income regulations. As a result, the income generated was not used to increase the size of the federally assisted programs or to reduce the Federal Government's and grantees' shares of program costs. The Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) and the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) have not adopted OMB standards or issued their own regulations on program income; therefore, they have lost some ability to direct the grantees' use of the income. In several cases, GAO found that DOT programs did not fully benefit from the income generated, and grantees are not always reporting income received. Because DOT regulations address only certain income, millions of dollars of grant-related income, such as interest and sales proceeds, are not being reported. In addition, some transportation grantees are earning and retaining interest on premature advances and withdrawals of Federal funds. Finally, GAO found that UMTA has not required grantees to return funds returned to it by a third party upon the settlement of a contract dispute. Federal cash management requirements state that these funds should be returned to the Federal Government if not authorized to meet immediate current expenses.