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Monday, October 22, 2007

Senate Amendment Would Threaten Federal Programs; Tell Your Senator to Vote "No."

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) has introduced an amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) that would threaten the budgets of important federal programs. The amendment would tie a program's budget to the White House Office of Management and Budget's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) — a flawed measure of a program's effectiveness and efficiency.

Allard's amendment would make PART ratings a trigger for budget cuts. If a program is rated "ineffective" by OMB assessors, the budget of that program would be automatically cut by 10 percent.

Imagine the possibilities. If the White House opposed a certain program — even if that program was an exemplar of government virtue and efficiency — OMB could deem the program "ineffective," leading to across the board budget cuts.

This is far from a conspiracy theory. OMB often doles out "ineffective" ratings on flimsy pretenses. Consider EPA's Air Quality Grants and Permitting Program which "support[s] the prevention and control of air pollution at the state and local level" by issuing pollution management permits and research and development grants.

OMB has deemed the program ineffective because it does not currently have efficiency measures in place and because "It is not clear that the current grant allocation methods for program implementation funding or for air pollution monitoring efforts are adequate." (Who among us does not fear the horrors of unclear grant allocation methods...)

Allard's amendment is bad policy that will likely yield bad results. The Senate may consider the amendment as it debates the appropriations bill today and tomorrow. Allard's amendment may come up for debate as soon as this afternoon. You can tell your senator to oppose Allard's amendment by calling or emailing. (Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121)