The 2008 farm bill assigned the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsibility for catfish inspections—a task already carried out by two other agencies: the FDA and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The GAO estimates that eliminating the USDA’s catfish inspection would save taxpayers $14 million “without affecting the safety of catfish intended for human consumption.” (The White House’s proposed budget for 2014 would eliminate the USDA’s catfish inspection program.)
2. Renewable energy initiatives are fragmented across 23 agencies and 130 sub agencies.
In 2011, nine federal agencies implemented 82 overlapping and duplicative wind-related initiatives, “including 7 initiatives that have provided duplicative… financial support to the same recipient for a single project,” the GAO found. In 2010, 679 renewable energy initiatives were spread across dozens of different agencies, costing taxpayers $15 billion. Regardless of how you feel about renewable energy subsidies, reducing agency duplication and fragmentation is a no brainer.
3. Three rural water infrastructure programs with a combined funding of $4.3 billion could be coordinated between federal agencies to reduce state grant application costs.
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