Senator Warner filed legislation today that would eliminate 17 outdated, ineffective, or duplicative government programs and save approximately $806 million a year.  It acts upon non-binding language inserted by Senator Warner into the FY2011 Budget Proposal in April.  

The Office of Management and Budget under both Presidents Bush and Obama have targeted these 17 programs for termination, yet Congress has so far refused to act on the recommendations.

For most of these programs, the current and previous administrations have determined that they duplicate existing programs.  For example, two programs -- the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Public Broadcasting Grants and the Department of Commerce's Public Telecommunications Facilities Grants -- duplicate activities being carried out by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Senator Warner, who is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee's Bipartisan Task Force on Government Performance, said of the legislation:

“Over the past three years, budget experts in both a Republican and now a Democratic administration have determined that these 17 programs have either outlived their usefulness or else unnecessarily duplicate other programs. If we in Congress cannot agree to accept a bipartisan recommendation to cut nearly one billion dollars, taxpayers should question our commitment to ever take real steps toward getting our national deficit under control.

“When it comes to these specific programs, we should shift the burden of proof.  Instead of arguing about whether these programs should be eliminated, members of Congress should explain why these programs should be preserved.”

Here is the list of programs, and the expected amount of annual savings:

Senator Warner’s proposal was filed today as an amendment to legislation providing tax relief to businesses and extending unemployment benefits to individuals, which the Senate is expected to vote on by the end of the week. If it is blocked by procedural obstacles, Senator Warner said that he intends to continue proposing this amendment until it is enacted.