PART - OMB Watch

PART: News Analysis Background Blog

President Bush proposed slashing or terminating 141 discretionary programs in the FY 2007 budget. The document detailing those cuts can be seen here. You can also scan the programs singled out for cuts or termination in a pdf made available on the OMB website.

Adam Hughes testified before the Senate Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security on June 13. His testimony can be seen here.

See the testimony of Professor Beryl Radin on Government Performance Issues before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security (6.14.2005)

Preliminary Criticisms of PART
This background piece on the Program Assessment Rating Tool discusses the nuts and bolts of PART, problems with implementation, and the political and idealogical implications of both the PART tool and government performance rhetoric.

Fact Sheet: PART and the FY06 Federal Budget
Fact Sheet: PART and the FY07 Federal Budget

All PART of the Game
The Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, is a system in the President's Management Agenda that's supposed to be used to evaluate a program's effectiveness so decisions about expansion and funding can be more accurate. But a little digging reveals that Fiscal Year 2006 budget cuts were made based on ideology; not on a measured, objective system. Gary Bass and Adam Hughes of OMB Watch explain.

Check out ExpectMore.gov, the Office of Management and Budget's new website dedicated to program performance.

News

OMB Wraps Up First Complete Round of PART Reviews with Little to Show 02/06/2007
Read More

OMB Watch Tells Congress PART Should Remain Insignificant 06/13/2006
OMB Watch told Congress today that the Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) draws biased conclusions about federal program efficacy and should thus continue to be largely ignored by Congress. Read More

White House Misleads Public, Congress on PART Results 05/02/2006
In each of the past two years, President Bush has publicly cited a group of 100-plus federal programs in his State of the Union address that he wishes to eliminate or drastically reduce because they are "not getting results." Yet, over two-thirds of these programs have not even been reviewed by the administration's own tool for determining results: the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). Read More

New PART Scores Showcase More Contradictions of Program 03/07/2006
The president's recent budget, released in early February, contained another round of federal program assessments produced by the Office of Management and Budget using the administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). As in past years, this new round of PART scores and associated budget requests call into question the value and purpose of PART ratings, which appear to have little logical and no discernable link to budget requests. Read More

Initial Analysis of the President's 2007 Budget 02/06/2006
The president's Fiscal Year 2007 (FY 07) budget would set the nation on a dangerous fiscal path and does nothing to honestly address the federal government's looming budgetary challenges. The budget--totaling $2.77 trillion--would make permanent the president's first-term tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, and pay for those cuts in part by cutting some entitlement programs and drastically reducing domestic discretionary spending (outside of homeland security and defense). Despite the spending cuts, deficits will continue to rise each year after President Bush leaves office if this budget is enacted. Read More

Legislative Update: Bills to Watch 07/25/2005
The following is an update on bills introduced so far in the 109th Congress that could affect regulatory policy in the public interest. Read More

White House Demands Power to Restructure Government 07/11/2005
The White House finally released last week its proposal for legislation granting the Bush administration wide-ranging powers to restructure government programs and force them to plead for their lives every 10 years. Read More

Senate Investigates the Program Assessment Rating Tool 06/27/2005
On Tuesday, June 14 the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security held a hearing on accountability and results in federal budgeting. Specifically, the hearing was held to investigate the specific metrics and tools used by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to measure the effectiveness of federal programs, the advantages and disadvantages of using these systems of measurement, and how information obtained is used to increase accountability in federal budgeting. The most widely used mechanism, called the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), was the main topic of the hearing. Read More

House Considers CDBG But Avoids Attacking PART 05/31/2005
In the wake of the White House's attempt to put the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program on the chopping block, a House subcommittee held a hearing to determine whether a program as diverse and flexible as CDBG could be evaluated using OMB's one-size-fits-all performance measurements. Read More

House Committee Approves Government Performance Rating Bill 03/21/2005
The House Government Reform Committee favorably reported out of committee the Program Assessment and Results Act, a bill that would have the effect of codifying the administration's controversial tool for rating program effectiveness. The bill is expected to move to the House floor this spring. Read More

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