(Washington, D.C.) – Though the presidential election is still being contested, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today congratulated Texas Governor George W. Bush on his certified victory in the 2000 presidential contest and recommended a bipartisan Government Waste Commission as one of the first priorities of his administration.

“As the official follow-on group to the Grace Commission of the 1980s, CAGW calls on President-elect Bush to immediately appoint a Government Waste Commission, similar to the Grace Commission and the Base Realignment and Closure Commission of the 1990s, to recommend ways to clean up the mess in Washington and save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars annually,” CAGW President Thomas A. Schatz said.  So far, Grace Commission and CAGW recommendations have helped save taxpayers more than $650 billion.

“Throughout the presidential campaign, opinion polls have indicated that eliminating government waste is a top priority for the American people,” Schatz added.  “They rightly sense they are paying too much to government and that much of what they pay is spent carelessly, mismanaged, and even lost.” 

Earlier this year, Gov. Bush proposed a waste commission to eliminate pork-barrel spending according to CAGW’s criteria.  Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) have also proposed a commission to overhaul how public money gets spent.

“By stemming government waste, the new president can initiate an era of good government and bipartisanship, and free up billions of dollars that can be spent on productive uses such as expanding coverage of prescription drugs to seniors, creating Social Security private accounts, or providing tax relief to families,” Schatz also said.  “We can do more with less if government commits to rudimentary reforms and oversight.  The new president must make the waste commission a top priority in his first 100 days or it won’t get done.”

CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with over a million members and supporters, dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government.