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Making Government Work Better

This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation. Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat send us here and pay our way. Americans deserve better. And in this city today there are people who want to do better.

Bill Clinton January 20, 1993

A crucial element of the President's economic plan, and of the success of our Nation in the coming years, is to improve the way Government works. Before we ask the American people to change, Government must change. It must work effectively and efficiently if it is to help encourage economic growth. We must restructure our defense and international mechanisms to adjust to the new realities of the post-Cold War era. Moreover, the American people have a right to Government that is honest, that is responsive to their concerns, and that serves them well.

Adapting to a Changing World

The institutions of Government that handle national security and our foreign relations must be redesigned. Constrained budgets necessitate efficient management of our defense and foreign relations. In addition, the many new challenges and opportunities of the next decade mean that structures designed for the Cold War must be reorganized so that they can carry out new policy initiatives successfully.

The major restructuring of our foreign relations institutions, as announced by the Secretary of State, has begun. Through the consolidation of functions and a one-third reduction in the number of deputy assistant secretaries, we will significantly streamline the operations of the State Department. In addition, the undersecretaries are acquiring new responsibilities, consonant with such new international missions as peacekeeping, democratization, and U.S. economic competitiveness, and such global issues as non-proliferation, the environment, refugees and population. To manage the critical relationship with the countries that were part of the Soviet Union, we have also created the position of Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States. And we are also initiating a review of current international affairs programs and structures in such areas as international development, finance and promotion, and international radio broadcasting, intending to streamline and redesign operations while ensuring we meet our current commitments.

A similar restructuring is under way in the national security arena. As the defense budget declines, we must become more efficient in managing the operations of the Department of Defense. Even as we build down and reshape our forces, we must assure an effective military capability, structured to meet new international challenges. The management structure of the Department of Defense must also be realigned for the new tasks ahead. The Office of the Secretary of Defense is being reshaped for efficiency and effectiveness by reducing the number of officials who report directly to the Secretary of Defense and by giving the undersecretaries responsibility for key departmental operations: defense policy, financial management, personnel and readiness, and technology and acquisition. In addition, defense policy offices are being restructured to focus on such new challenges as counter-proliferation, peacekeeping, economic and environmental security, and democratization. These changes promise to ensure that the Department of Defense is managed to achieve key strategic results, rather than simply conducting business as usual. As we develop a new defense strategy this year, we will be paying close attention to other defense management issues, such as defense overhead and business practices, acquisition reform and the future of the defense industrial and technology base.

Finally, the National Security Council staff is also being reshaped to focus on the new challenges we face internationally, so that it can lend effective support and coordination for interagency activities.

Restructuring for Domestic Change

Here at home, the President has already taken a number of direct actions to reduce the size and cost of Government, improve its honesty, and reduce the privileges that too often fostered insensitivity and arrogance in previous administrations:

* An executive order requiring that the Federal civilian workforce be reduced by 100,000 by 1995, with at least 10 percent coming from the ranks of management.

* An executive order requiring a reduction of at least 14 percent in administrative costs throughout Government over the next four years, which, along with the reduction in personnel, will save over $15 billion over that period.

* An executive order requiring the elimination of more than 200 non-statutory Federal advisory committees that currently operate throughout the Government.

* A 25 percent reduction in the size of the White House staff, with savings of $10 million in 1994.

* An executive order that imposes on top-level Administration employees the most stringent ethical standards in the nation's history.

* A Presidential memorandum sharply reducing the availability of Government automobiles and drivers for high-level officials.

* A Presidential memorandum requiring that executive dining rooms, if they remain open, fully recover their costs.

* A Presidential memorandum restricting air travel by high-level officials.

In addition to these steps, the Administration will make more effective management of Government a top priority. Government is not a business. But there are business management techniques which can help improve the performance of Government, streamline bureaucracies, and reduce costs. Overcoming years of neglect is a difficult task. But it is essential that we begin now.

Managing for results. Too often, Government agencies and programs have only the vaguest goals. As a result, they have little to guide their efforts, and there is no way for an Administration, or the American people, have no way to measure the results of their work. Businesses set goals and evaluate managers and workers based on their performance in meeting those goals. Government can and should do the same. The Administration is studying possible ways of testing performance-based management to help agencies and their employees do their jobs better, and to enable managers and the public to evaluate their work.

Restructuring Government. 20The Federal Government is more complex than it needs to be. Often, many different agencies deal with the same issue, and individuals, businesses, communities, and states find it impossible to have their problems addressed. Departments and agencies are already consolidating and simplifying their operations, and the Administration will seek to rationalize and streamline functions Government-wide.

More responsive Government. Well-run businesses seek to maintain good relations with their customers, but Government is too often arrogant toward those it serves. This Administration will seek to improve the delivery of services, using client-oriented, "user-friendly" approaches, such as "one-stop shopping" for multiple services.

Unnecessary spending. 20Wasteful spending is sometimes the result of legislative mandates that escape scrutiny through their inclusion in large appropriations bills. Under current procedures a President cannot single out wasteful items in an appropriations bill for a veto; he must veto the entire measure. The President intends to work with the Congress to enact a modified line-item veto that will enable a President to reject wasteful items from an appropriations bill and will require the Congress to cast a separate vote on those items. Items that have broad support will survive; but over time millions, perhaps billions, of dollars will be saved by the defeat of items without broad support.

Campaign reform. A primary reason for the cynicism of the American people about politics and Government has been the pervasive influence of special interests. Much of that influence is related directly to the impact of money on the political system. The President is already working with the Congress to develop strong campaign reform legislation that will curb the influence of special interest political action committees (PACs) and control election spending.

Lobbying reform. The American people have a right to know who is lobbying their Government leaders, who is paying them to lobby, and how much they are being paid. The Administration is working with the Congress to enact legislation that would impose strict disclosure rules on lobbying. In addition, the President's deficit-reduction plan includes a tax provision eliminating the deduction of the expenses special interests incur in lobbying the Congress or state legislatures. No longer will the average taxpayer have to subsidize this search for Government benefits by high-priced lobbyists. The Administration is committed to enactment of campaign finance reform legislation. If such legislation calls for public resources, funds raised by the repeal of the provision are a possible source of funding for this purpose.

Taken together, these actions will help bring about Government that is better able to meet its responsibilities at home and abroad, that is more responsive, effective, efficient, and honest. This Administration is making a full-time commitment to improving Government and making it truly the servant of the people.