Did you ever wonder what the most ineffective government programs are in the U.S.? We're not just talking about the programs that can't demonstrate if they're performing or not, but rather those programs that are proving to be actively wasting the tax dollars they receive through their chronic inability to achieve worthwhile results. In other words, truly ineffective government programs. Here's a short list of some of the least effective U.S. government programs, as identified by the White House's ExpectMore.gov web site:
| Sample of Ineffective Government Programs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department/Agency | Program | Budget (millions $USD) | ||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007* | ||
| Education | Even Start | 225 | 99 | 0 |
| Energy | Oil Technology | 34 | 32 | 0 |
| Health & Human Services | Health Professions | 450 | 295 | 159 |
| Justice | Juvenile Accountability Block Grants | 54 | 49 | 0 |
| Labor | Trade Adjustment Assistance | 1057 | 966 | 939 |
| Transportation | Amtrak | 1207 | 1294 | 900 |
| Treasury | IRS Earned Income Tax Credit Compliance | 165 | 167 | 168 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | EPA Ecological Research | 87 | 85 | 80 |
| Corp. for National & Community Service | AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps | 25 | 27 | 5 |
In all, 28 programs appear on ExpectMore.gov's list of ineffective programs, which account for 3.5% of the 805 federal government programs that were reviewed by the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Together, these programs consumed $19,793,000,000 ($19.8 billion USD) in 2005. In 2006, the amount Congress has enacted to support these programs adds up to $17,494,000,000 ($17.5 billion USD), and the President's recently released budget request for 2007 proposes spending $14,773,000,000 ($14.8 billion USD), a 15.6% decrease ($2.7 billion USD) from the amount budgeted for these programs for 2006. (All figures taken or derived from the spreadsheet for the Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Request assembled by the White House.)