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Fact Sheets

President Donald J. Trump: Protecting Taxpayer Money

Budget & Spending

Issued on:

A PROBLEM IGNORED: Despite a skyrocketing debt, past attempts to point out Government waste have been ignored.

  • Under President Obama, our National debt grew by 88% from $10.6 trillion on January 20, 2009, to $19.9 trillion on January 19, 2017.
    • Every child born today inherits over $61,000 in debt.
  • In April 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the Executive Branch and Congress failed to fully address a majority of the Government fragmentation, overlap, and duplication identified by the GAO.
    • The Executive Branch has failed to fully follow through 53% of the time, failing to act on 243 of the 459 GAO recommended actions to reduce bureaucratic duplication and waste.
    • Congress has failed to fully follow through 62% of the time, failing to act on 53 of the 85 GAO recommended actions to reduce bureaucratic duplication and waste.
    • In 2016, the GAO identified 92 additional actions to reduce duplication and waste.
  • Billions of dollars could be saved if just the previously identified problems were addressed.

TACKLING GOVERNMENT OVERLAP AND WASTE: Today, President Trump issued an Executive Order to simplify the Executive Branch to better serve the interests of the American people.

  • President Trump has directed OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to submit a comprehensive plan to reorganize Executive Branch departments and agencies.
  • Each agency and department will submit a detailed report including ideas for concrete improvements to enhance its efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.
  • All Americans will be able to submit suggestions and ideas on how to make Government work better for them.
  • President Trump will work with Congress to put these plans and suggestions into practice to make the Government work better for all Americans.

KEEPING HIS PROMISE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: President Trump promised that he would put in place common sense reforms to eliminate waste so that the Government better serves all Americans.

  • President Trump: “Our moral duty to the taxpayer requires us to make our Government leaner and more accountable. We must do a lot more with less.”
  • Candidate Trump: “I will ask that savings be accomplished through common sense reforms that eliminate Government waste and budget gimmicks – and that protect, absolutely protect, hard-earned benefits for Americans.”