Good afternoon - 

Iowans sent me to Washington with a mission to cut the wasteful pork out of our government spending in order to make the federal government more efficient. Our country is now nearly $20 trillion in debt. Iowans can no longer afford to bankroll Washington's reckless spending habits, which is why I give out the Squeal Award each month, and it’s also why I introduced the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act. Read more about it below…


Squeal Award: Inefficient Government Program Management

All too often, federal government projects and programs run up high costs or fall behind schedule due to mismanagement and a lack of accountability. In fact, recent reports have found that many of these failed projects are ultimately terminated years after implementation, wasting billions of your taxpayer dollars on a project that never even came to fruition.  That is totally unacceptable!

Just take a look at a few of these instances…

  • The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Scheduling Replacement Project was terminated after spending an estimated $127 million over nine years. Despite spending nearly a decade attempting to modernize the department’s 25 year old outpatient scheduling system, the VA had not implemented any of the planned system’s capabilities and it was ultimately scrapped.
  • The Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Border Initiative Network program was terminated after obligating more than $1 billion to the program over six years, because it did not meet cost-effectiveness and viability standards.
  • The Department of Defense’s Expeditionary Combat Support System was canceled after spending more than $1 billion and failing to deploy within five years of initially obligating funds.

Iowans deserve a more efficient and competent use of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars, which is why I introduced the bipartisan Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act with Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). Our bill would require the federal government to utilize best practices from the private sector so we can increase accountability and prevent the lax oversight that leads to cost overruns and missed deadlines—making the federal government more productive and cost-effective. 

By improving program management, this bill has the potential to save billions of your hard-earned dollars

And although it might feel like Washington can’t agree on much these days, congressional Republicans and Democrats alike came together to pass this legislation, and sent it to the President's desk.

Together, we sent a clear message that we must do more to get our government waste under control. I encourage the President to sign this bill into law, and put these reforms into action.

Until then, I hereby present our government's large, expensive and inefficient programs with this month’s Squeal Award.


Do you have an example of government waste or inefficiencies that I should take a look at? Send me an email by clicking here.

Thank you!