WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement today after the Office of Management and Budget launched an improved performance.gov website, a key requirement of Senator Warner’s 2010 Government Performance and Results Modernization Act. The President signed the Modernization Act in January February 2011. The upgraded portal unveiled by OMB today allows taxpayers, elected officials and other policymakers to review both short-term and long-term goals for each federal agency, and it displays quarterly performance data about each agency’s progress, or lack of progress, for each goal.

“Improving government performance rarely makes the front pages, but I am a firm believer in operating government in a more efficient, rational and transparent way. This website will provide additional information about why a specific goal was set, what progress is being made, which programs are contributing to the effort, and what steps are being taken to make additional progress.

“Importantly, the Modernization Act also requires federal agencies to work together to accomplish cross-agency priority goals for the first time. Breaking down the silos is critical when you have dozens of federal programs across many agencies delivering similar services.”

“We can always do better, and this new performance framework should help us make data-driven decisions about what works and what doesn’t.”

Sen. Warner is Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee’s Task Force on Government Performance, a bipartisan effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and services. His work in Congress on establishing clear goals, enacting performance measurements and promoting transparency mirrors his work as Virginia Governor (2002-6), when he established the bipartisan Council on the Virginia’s Future along with the Virginia Performs website.