Time for a New kind of BRAC - Let's Call It PRAC!

What is BRAC? For those not acquainted with the term, BRAC stands for Base Realignment and Closure and is a government commission that is charged with determining what military facilities can either be closed or realigned in order to save money. The first round took place in 1988 and there have been 5 rounds to date with another planned for 2015. The idea for a commission was to have independent commissioners who would be able to render their decisions without political concerns.

So what do I mean by PRAC? Well we learned last week that the Government Accounting Office (GAO) identified between $100-$200 billion in overlapping, wasteful, or duplicate federal programs. According to the Wall Street Journal which reviewed the report, the GAO found that there are:

• 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws
• more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless 
• 80 programs for economic development
• 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality
• 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation
• 47 for job training and employment; and
• 56 to help people understand finances.

These are just a few examples of our government's bloated bureaucracy. Not only is there all this duplication but many of these programs have never been evaluated to determine their effectiveness!
So by PRAC I mean Program Realignment and Cancellation which would be an independent commission to to identify duplication, determine program effectiveness, and ultimately determine which programs should be eliminated, consolidated or left alone.

Although the goals of many of these programs appear to be noble, it seems very unlikely that the duplication is justified. Even if all that is accomplished by "PRAC" is consolidation, the savings realized from eliminating the administrative costs of so many separate programs would be, without a doubt, substantial and perhaps this could be accomplished while preserving the portion of their budgets that is actually spent helping citizens and improving our society.

We've got to start somewhere because if we don't, our annual budget deficits and national debt will destroy the country and threaten the future of our children and grandchildren. Isn't "PRAC" a proposal that both conservative and liberals would agree is the right thing to do?