On Tuesday morning the House Budget Committee held a hearing on ways to increase the use of performance-based budgeting in the federal budget. The hearing included testimony from Jeffrey D. Zients, Chief Performance Officer (CPO) for the federal government.
On Tuesday morning the House Budget Committee held a hearing on ways to increase the use of performance-based budgeting in the federal budget. The hearing included testimony from Jeffrey D. Zients, Chief Performance Officer (CPO) for the federal government.
“Oregonians expect their tax dollars to be spent wisely and efficiently,” said Congressman Schrader (D-OR) a chief proponent of performance-based budgeting. “Programs should be judged and funded based on how successful and efficient they are with taxpayer dollars. Performance-based budgeting allows us to focus on and reward good outcomes while ensuring federal money is being spent responsibly and make a strong commitment to paying down our National Debt.”
The hearing was held at the request of Congressman Schrader who, as a state legislator and co-chair of the Oregon Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, implemented performance-based budgeting for Oregon’s state budget. As a member of Congress, Schrader has worked hard to bring these same budgeting principles to the federal budget.
“Kurt Schrader’s leadership and expertise on this issue is a primary reason we’re holding this hearing,” said Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC). “The hearing is part of an ongoing dialogue Congressman Schrader started with the Administration to promote this timely and badly-needed initiative. For that, we are very grateful to him.”
As the co-chairman of the Oregon Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee for 6 years Schrader developed a reputation as a budget watchdog who wanted state agencies to demonstrate better efficiency with taxpayer dollars using performance-based budgeting. Under this philosophy, Oregon state agencies and programs were evaluated and ranked based on their previous performance to determine their funding level. In 2008, The Oregonian explained that “Schrader is a conservative Democrat who built a reputation during his decade in the Legislature as a hard-nosed numbers cruncher and advocate for performance-based budgeting. ”
In January 2009, President Obama announced created a Chief Performance Officer (CPO) position for the federal government to restore public confidence in government by ensuring that federal dollars are used wisely and efficiently. Jeffrey Zients was confirmed by the Senate as CPO and Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget in June.
Moving forward Congressman Schrader is committed to playing a leading role to encourage collaboration between the Congress and the Administration to implement performance-based budgeting for upcoming budgets.
