William Roth: “when Vice President Gore announced his efforts to reinvent Government everyone applauded the goal of making Government…”

“when Vice President Gore announced his efforts to reinvent Government everyone applauded the goal of making Government more efficient and costing the taxpayer less. Now, when faced with the opportunity to do so, the players seem to be backing away from the table. In fact, the House Democrats aren't even willing to come to the table. The real issue here is how serious Congress is about putting teeth into the recommendations of the National Performance Review. I am very serious. That is why I have pushed to ensure that not only downsizing occurs, but more importantly savings are used to benefit the American taxpayer. When the Government downsizes by 252,000 employees we should not miss this opportunity to fully dedicate this downsizing dividend toward an important goal. My first choice is to fund the crime bill with the savings from downsizing Government. If, however, that does not happen, I believe the only other appropriate place for those savings is to reduce the deficit. Today's Washington Post includes an article that tells a story of how Washington really works.”