Senator: More oversight, less budgeting necessary

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., Wednesday renewed his call for biennial budgeting and said Congress must direct more of its attention to scrutinizing the government programs that it funds.

"I believe we spend way too much time budgeting and appropriating," Domenici told a government performance conference hosted by the Council for Excellence in Government.

Domenici said Congress uses too much floor time debating appropriations bills and that authorizing committees have ceased to be an effective tool for reviewing programs.

"The only reason people have oversight is if it's politically sexy," he said.

Domenici said he would like to apply a "validity test" and review every program that is at least 25 years old.

He suggested making General Accounting Office staff a permanent part of congressional oversight committees-as Republicans had done while reviewing the administration of federal education programs.

Also speaking at the conference, Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said Americans have in mind a limited purpose for government.

"The public wants the government to do what only it can do," Kohut said. "The people see government as the court of last resort for many problems."

Despite good government performance, Kohut said the public must approve of its functions. "If people don't sign onto the mission [of an agency], no matter how good the service is, they're not going to like it," Kohut said.

Pollster Peter Hart said most Americans judge government performance by their personal points of contact with it-offering that his opinion about Virginia state government is shaped by the program that allows drivers to renew their licenses on the Internet.

"You should change your motto from 'Virginia is for lovers' to 'Virginia is for drivers,' " Hart said.

Toni Lenane, a Social Security Administration senior adviser responsible for customer service, said agencies must balance competing interests to satisfy the public-such as granting disabled people benefits while satisfying taxpayers that recipients are entitled to them.

"We pretty much know what the public wants and they are eminently reasonable," Lenane said, adding that the Internet offers new opportunities and a "huge potential for savings."