Federal Waste Initiative Would Save Taxpayers $2 Billion

New steps being taken by the Obama administration will save taxpayers more than $2 billion over the next five years, said Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Biden, who was tapped by President Obama this past June to oversee a government-wide effort to cut down on waste, said the cuts would mainly target the public healthcare sector.

“Today’s announcements…show that we can make our government more efficient and responsible to the American people,” Biden said. “If we’re going to spur jobs and economic growth and restore long-term fiscal solvency, we need to make sure hard-earned tax dollars don’t go to waste.”

According to the White House, a provision within the Affordable Care Act known as the Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor Program would limit fraud by $2.1 billion between now and 2016 by targeting improper payments to beneficiaries. $900 million worth of savings would be doled out to states.

“We simply can’t afford to see even one penny of our health care dollars wasted and expanding this program will help us reach that goal,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Biden, who summoned cabinet officials to the White House this morning to review anti-waste plans, also announced a new effort being spearheaded by the Labor Department to minimize wasteful spending on unemployment benefits. The agency, which launched a new website that tracks improper payments on a state-by-state basis, also awarded $192 million to 42 states to improve their way of handling and distributing benefits.

“States bear the responsibility of operating an efficient and effective benefits program, but as partners the federal government must be able to hold them accountable for doing so,” said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Biden will hold additional meetings in the coming weeks with cabinet officials to monitor efforts to cut waste.

Meanwhile, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calf.) released a new report this morning showing that new regulations put in place by the administration will cost businesses up to $380 billion over the next decade.

The report details how federal regulatory agencies have increased payrolls by 13% during President Obama’s time in office, and shows that the number of full-time regulatory employees is expected to grow to over 290,000 by next year.

Issa, who has been pressuring the White House to roll back rules since he took over as head of his committee back in January, said the new regulations would stifle economic growth.

“The businesses owners and workers who bear the brunt of these regulations are not Fortune 500 executives, they are main street business owners and workers from around the country,” he said. “These firms, their families, suppliers, customers and employees all bear the cost of these new and proposed regulations.”

Though Issa applauded Obama’s decision earlier this month to ask the EPA to scrap a key air quality rule, he urged the president to go further.

“Thus far, the rhetoric we have seen from the Obama Administration on the issue of regulatory reform has not been matched in deed.”