President Calls on Agencies to Cut $100 Million in Administrative Costs

By Paula Cruickshank, CCH Washington News Bureau, Contributing Author, the CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter, April 20, 2009.

Obama on April 20 directed federal department and agency heads to find at least $100 million in administrative savings and report their findings in the next 90 days. In the weeks ahead, Obama said the administration will announce cuts in 100 or more federal programs to help fund health care, education, energy and other critical areas.

Obama, at the end of his first Cabinet meeting, acknowledged that the $100 million in savings is a relatively small amount but that cumulatively it can make a difference. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that cutting back on unnecessary spending is “one in a series of steps” to be taken to “put us back on a path of fiscal sustainability.” The administration is expected to release a more detailed fiscal year 2010 budget plan by the end of April or early May, according to a government spokesman.

“All across America, families are making hard choices, and it’s time their government did the same,” Obama said in a radio address on April 18. That means the administration must examine “every program, every entitlement, every dollar of government spending” to determine what is essential, Obama said.