Johnson: Cost cuts cut through politics

Cost savings mechanisms spawned by the President's Management Agenda are irreversibly changing the federal government, said Clay Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget's deputy director for management.

"This is not a Republican initiative," Johnson said today during an event to celebrate recent accomplishments by Lines of Business Initiative task forces. "Focusing on results is good for everybody, because if it wasn't, it wouldn't happen."

Challenges for the future include taking OMB's projected cost savings achieved through various agenda efforts and making them real. "It's going to be just as much work going forward," Johnson said.

Additional challenges are to make people aware of the government's increased efficiency, and to ensure Congress continues to fund agenda work. "I'm a little less confident of Congress," he added.

The President's Management Agenda, announced in the summer of 2001, focuses on improving five governmentwide areas of management. The five areas are strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government, and budget and performance integration.