Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn instituted the wasteful spending report that is now required from the GAO. Sadly, Sen, Coburn says it isn’t working and Congress has failed to act.
According to Coburn, however, the only substantive legislative follow-up has so far been a House-passed bill that supporters say would consolidate some 30 job training programs. After narrowly winning House approval last March, the bill has stalled in a Senate committee.
One problem, Coburn said, is that congressional committee chairmen are reluctant to give up control of programs under their jurisdictions. “The problem is us,” he said.
Add this example to the long list of evidence that once a person or a group is given power and/or public money, it is nearly impossible to take it away. And that is a key reason that we must be serious about limiting government to essential, core services. Ending publicly funded programs and the dependence on government that comes with program — or even scaling back program growth — subjects a lawmaker to hateful, relentless criticism and/or protest.
