By now, we’ve all heard the idea floated by former President Trump that if elected, he would implement a Government Efficiency Commission headed by the famous entrepreneur, Elon Musk. After running the U.S. Small Business Administration and working as a Senior White House Policy Advisor, I can tell you that the government could certainly benefit from greater efficiency! Critics may point to the credible (but manageable) challenges of executing this task. However, what about the big idea itself? I’ve worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs who routinely embrace opportunities to be more efficient with their operations, so why is this such a far-fetched idea for our government? The reality is that it is not, and simply put, it should be a bipartisan goal.
Governing is often about big ideas. FDR challenged America to stare down fear. JFK inspired more than going to the moon by willing the country to do things not because they were easy — but because they were hard. And Reagan meant a lot more by his directive to Mikhail Gorbachev than to simply tear down a concrete wall. A massive government-wide audit is not as sexy as space travel or as memorable as ending the Cold War, but is a comprehensive analysis of a government that spends over $6 trillion a year so underwhelming that the mere idea of such an undertaking is simply dismissed because it is deemed preposterous on its face? If that were the standard, this country would never have built a transcontinental railroad and it would never have ended two world wars.
Today, beyond the media and a handful of watchdog nonprofits, internal review in the federal government is limited. Currently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the various Inspectors General are situated inside most of the federal agencies, but their audit reports too often end up in the back of file cabinets and hidden deep within agency websites. Their findings do make their way to Congress, which then reviews them and conducts hearings that usually result in little press traction, most often wash out in the 24-hour news cycle and rarely result in real change.
The real hammer for these agencies to reform comes at budget time when Congress votes on how much money they get to spend. But how often does Congress get a thoughtful, fully analyzed budget completed in a timely fashion? If you are still thinking about that one — the answer is never. For many years, budget fights over issues that are often not related to the budget itself have stalled negotiations such that Congress is forced to vote on what’s referred to as “a continuing resolution” or a “CR.” For those of you outside the beltway, this simply keeps the lights on for a few weeks until they have no choice other than to vote and approve something at the eleventh hour, most often without a majority of members even reading the substance of the bill. And as all of us saw this week, it seems to have happened once again.
Despite Speaker Johnson’s best efforts, this same plot is playing out in late September to order to avoid a government shutdown. But sadly, this is a cycle that is repeated year after year, and absent some kind of bipartisan miracle, it may just be the new normal. Taxpayers don’t write or approve the federal budget, but their voices might be heard through an Efficiency Commission that forces Congress to stand up and take notice. While the reviews by the GAO and the Inspectors General may be very thorough and detailed, they typically only look at a handful of issues, and most times, those assessments are particular to that agency — as opposed to a cross-government analysis of waste, fraud and abuse. Their work is hardly inconsequential, but it does not get to the core of what such a proposed Efficiency Commission could do to holistically comb through the country’s operational finances and provide a meaningful path forward.
An effort of this type may never be considered groundbreaking or audacious and would certainly not receive the ambitious moniker of a “moonshot,” but this country has a history of doing hard things because it knows that the rewards are often great. And while the idea admittedly seems to be in the germination phase at this point, rejecting it out of hand seems somewhat short-sighted. As of now, it is simply a big idea! And to that end, the first draft of a policy is rarely perfect, but just like our Union, it can be made more perfect with time.
Chris Pilkerton is a former Acting Administrator of the US Small Business Administration, White House Senior Policy Advisor and Harvard Kennedy School Senior Fellow. His latest book is titled PLANDEMIC: COVID, PPP & A Small Business Prescription for the Next Economic Global Economic Crisis.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
