So far I have been in Washington DC for almost a week and I see inefficiency and waste everywhere. A perfect example is the 106 of federally funded programs to help encourage high school students to pursue STEM career fields. After meeting with Senator Coburn’s office it is clear that government is program heavy. Senator Coburn suggested measuring the effectiveness of these programs and the possibility merging them together to reduce the costs to the taxpayer. When asked why that had not been done he responded that there is no glory for a representative who cuts programs.
I saw a similar story at NASA Goddard, they are spending billions of dollars on a satellite that, they hope, will be able to pinpoint how old the earth really is. Why does it matter? We have lived this long without knowing how old the earth is so why do we need to figure out now. This is a program that costs the taxpayers billions of the dollars each year and provides no real tangible benefit except a single use satellite.
Needless to say I did not feel confident in government’s ability to manage anything as I visited with the Consumer Product and Safety Commission. The CPSC is a regulatory agency that is responsible for minimizing consumer hazards, they oversee consumer goods like cleaning chemicals, toys strollers, car seats, and clothing. Chairman Tannenbaum met with our group briefly and gave a few words of wisdom and then she turned us over to the engineering department. The engineers explained what they did for the department and some of the challenges that they face. The engineers said that the commission had no lawyers and that it was the engineers responsibility to not only pinpoint problems with consumer products but to also work with companies to correct these issues.
I was amazed that the engineers at the CPSC carried this type of workload. It seemed to me by this remark that the commission had cut out the middle man, being the lawyers. This government efficiency impressed me with the structure of the CPSC. Why don’t some other government agencies follow suit.
