Press Releases

Floor Speech: Greater Accountability, Transparency in the Budget Process

Mark Warner delivers maiden speech on the Senate floor

Mar 24 2009

As prepared for delivery:

Mister President, I rise today to state a principle that is known well by those of us here who have spent any time in the private sector – and it is this:

What gets measured gets done. 

Our work here on the federal budget, even as we are implementing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, could confirm the claims of the critics – those skeptics who always say Washington simply is not capable of managing the taxpayer's money responsibly. 

Or -- it could present us with a tailor-made opportunity to demonstrate that we can combine bold action with innovation and transparency as we work to get our economy – and our country -- back on the right track.

In the near-term, the targeted investments included in the Recovery Act are designed to create millions of jobs. 

And the President’s budget proposal will allow us to make longer-term investments through the expanded use of electronic health records -- the build-out of an electric “smart” grid -- and through energy-saving improvements to millions of homes and businesses.

Now, the American people are not expecting miracles. 

But at the very least they can -- and they should -- expect competence.

So we must put in place the people with the right skills, and insist on the appropriate measurements, and then demand transparency and accountability.

When I became Virginia governor at the peak of a recession in 2002, I inherited a $6 billion revenue shortfall in Virginia's $34 billion annual budget.

Our administration made the painful spending cuts. But we also did something else. We took that opportunity to enact long-term budget reforms that continue to save taxpayer dollars today.

For instance, by renegotiating state contracts, we reduced our cost for light bulbs from 32-cents to 23-cents apiece. Now, to be sure, savings of 9-cents-per-bulb did not erase our $6 billion budget shortfall – but, you know, state government buys an awful lot of light bulbs!

We found similar savings in procurement across much of state government. We also eliminated outdated boards and commissions. We consolidated our IT services. We adopted a “portfolio” approach to manage our vehicle fleet and our real estate holdings. 

This business-like approach produced almost immediate taxpayer savings.

And it accomplished something else, too: it created an expectation of transparency and accountability that resulted in Virginia being independently named the nation’s best-managed state -- and the best state for business investment.

Mister President, I did not rise today to brag on my state of Virginia – [well, OK, maybe just a little…]

I rise today to suggest that this same approach – straight talk, tough choices, an insistence on common-sense reforms and accountability – is critically important here and now – perhaps more than ever.

President Obama has made it clear to governors and mayors across the country that we need their help for this Recovery and Reinvestment Act to succeed.

And I commend the administration for insisting that accountability does not simply stop at the state capitol, once a governor releases funds to localities.  We must have high standards of accountability at the local level as well.

I also am pleased that the Administration's "Recovery-dot-gov" website attempts to convey a lot of useful information to taxpayers in a clear and user-friendly way. And, by mid-week, all but a handful of states are expected to have launched similar websites of their own. We must make sure we have standard metrics among state websites so we can accurately measure our progress.   

It also is imperative that we keep the pressure on officials at every level of government -- to continue to aggressively look for even more creative ways to make these sites even more useful. 

In recent weeks, I have been speaking with key administration officials about other steps we might take to promote transparency and accountability in implementing the Recovery Act. 

I would suggest this could build a solid foundation to promote longer-term fiscal responsibility as we move forward in the federal budget process.

For instance, I believe we should drill-down and reach consensus on a common set of definitions and metrics that truly measure our progress.

When I chaired the National Governors Association in 2005, and we launched a high school reform initiative, I recall being very surprised that we first had to spend a lot of time and effort simply reaching a consensus on how to define "what is a high school graduate?"

But once we sorted through all of the issues with the educators, academics, and policymakers, and reached consensus on a common definition, we finally were able to compare programs – between school districts, and among the states. 

And that now allows us to duplicate those programs that work and take them to scale.

Perhaps that experience provides a useful model as we work now to develop a common set of metrics that will allow us to honestly and effectively track federal spending. 

We should work through existing organizations, such as the National Governors Association, the Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties and others, as we work to design effective measurement tools.

For example, most of us agree that expanding high-speed Internet broadband to rural communities will create jobs. It also will allow folks in every region of our nation to have an opportunity to compete and win in a global economy.

And, obviously, we will track our progress by additional miles of broadband and additional Internet connections. 

But what if we also came up with a way to capture information about rural businesses that are able to launch, or grow, because of this expanded access to broadband?  

That information would allow us to measure the true value of broadband to the longer-term economic vitality of our rural communities.

Or consider our dramatically expanded commitment to weatherization improvements to lower-income homes.  

Certainly, we will tally the number of structures that take advantage of these energy-saving programs, and it’ll be easy to document the number of workers hired to perform the work.

But couldn’t we also come-up with some way to measure what one would reasonably expect to be a reduction in the annual demand for government-funded heating and cooling assistance? 

And wouldn’t that information be helpful as we consider funding levels for LIHEAP and similar assistance programs in the years to come?

In short, I believe every level of government should go the extra mile in laying out exactly how federal dollars are spent, and we should honestly measure and freely disclose program outcomes. 

I also think it's a good idea to link disbursement with pre-determined timelines and checkpoints to better track program outcomes. Consequently, if we don't see progress we could delay or defer future payments. 

In addition, federal and state governments also should be encouraged to reach outside their comfort zones and challenge individuals in the private sector who might step-up and provide specialized expertise.

This could be part of the Serve America Act, now under consideration by this Congress, which will promote and expand public service opportunities for more of our citizens. 

There are a number of new initiatives in the Recovery Act that will scale up very quickly, and that will require special expertise.

For example, I’m talking about men and women with proven management capabilities – individuals who can move with the speed of venture capitalists to embrace new ideas – or military leaders who have successfully overseen relief operations.

We also must have the courage to cut-back or eliminate programs that cannot prove their worth. 

As a former governor who enjoyed line-item veto authority, I wholeheartedly support President Obama’s pledge of a line-by-line review of the budget to identify waste and fraud.

Beyond program cuts or eliminations, I also would encourage the administration to conduct a broad-based review of government programs that is horizontal as well as vertical.

Based on my experience as a governor, and the experience of countless Fortune 500 companies, I know that an enterprise-wide review could reveal opportunities to wring-out significant budget savings across all parts of government, most especially in three primary areas of government:  procurement, technology, and human resources.

This makes it vitally important that the administration move quickly to appoint its Chief Performance Officer.  And that CPO must have the authority to act quickly, along with the Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer, with a mandate to work across multiple federal agencies. 

And they should be encouraged to ruffle a few feathers inside the bureaucracy. 

Because, Mister President, I’ll say it again: what gets measured gets done. 

In the short term, creating an expectation of transparency and accountability will maximize our bang-for-the-buck as we continue to implement the Recovery Act. 

And over the longer term, a focus and a genuine commitment to fiscal responsibility will demonstrate that Washington can, in fact, act with both competence and restraint when it comes to spending the taxpayer’s money.

I thank you, Mister President.  

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