GAO has good ideas on ending the overlap of federal programs GAO's second annual report on duplication among government programs is not a titillating read. Talk about a cumbersome bureaucracy seems old hat. The House hearing where the report was discussed last month was a poorly attended and pretty dull affair, though the generally bipartisan agreement there was refreshing. I confess to just now catching up to the hearing online, but it was well worth the look back. GAO's study is a budget blueprint that could lead to far greater savings than the $60 billion over 10 years the federal pay freeze will generate and without dismantling major parts of the government as some Republicans would like. While the title of the report - "More Efficient and Effective Government: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue" - demonstrates no tendency to save words, GAO estimates implementing suggestions in this and related studies "could potentially save tens of billions of dollars annually." The 2012 report identifies 51 areas "that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury," Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro said in his Feb. 28 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Those areas of overlap are in the executive branch, but Congress was identified, by one of its own, as the real culprit. "Who is to blame for this maze of government programs?" asked Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in his testimony. Very simply, it is Congress. We are all culpable. And to be sure, the blame does not rest on one party or the other, it lies with both. Duplication in this country has been created by the ruling class of career politicians seeking to slap short-term fixes on problems in order to claim credit at home and recognition in Washington. GAO provided these examples, among many more: ■ There were "20 different entities that administer 160 programs, tax expenditures, and other tools that supported homeownership and rental housing in fiscal year 2010." ■ Duplication of Defense Department and Veteran Affairs health-care programs has led to "inadequate information exchange and poor coordination between these programs" and "confusion and frustration for enrollees, particularly when case managers and care coordinators duplicate or contradict one another's efforts." ■ The Navy "plans to spend more than $3 billion to develop the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] rather than the already fielded Air Force Global Hawk system on which it was based." ■ Promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education has produced 209 programs in 13 agencies. Eighty-three percent of the programs "overlapped to some degree with at least 1 other program in that they offered similar services to target groups . . . to achieve similar objectives."