ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how the ideas of better government performance-that is, cutting waste, fraud and abuse, and making program management more effective-and budget planning are tied. It starts with an historical context, to show how these issues have been around for some time. This sets the stage for a description of what Congress and the executive branch have done to promote a budget-friendly management culture in government. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and General Accounting Office (GAO-now the Government Accountability Office) concluded shortly after the commission's report came out that the savings claims were triple what the CBO/GAO economists could find. That is because 1993 marked the passage of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), the first major piece of legislation to tie budgeting to performance criteria. This may actually cut government spending more than any efforts at making the government more efficient, but they should not be confused with policies aimed at improving government performance.
