
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 6, 1993                   TAG: 9309060077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON FINDS AGREEMENT: GOVERNMENT WASTES MONEY

Public outrage is building an unusually sturdy base for President Clinton's push to reshape the federal bureaucracy: 95 percent of Americans think government wastes lots of money, an Associated Press poll found.

Such consensus could help Clinton push through changes he will outline Tuesday under the rubric of "reinventing government."

Based on a study led by Vice President Al Gore, Clinton is expected to propose numerous changes in the way the federal government buys services, hires workers, makes budgets, pays benefits, collects fees and divides duties among agencies.

According to the poll, the average American thinks 37 percent of the $1.5 trillion federal budget could realistically be cut as wasteful.

While it would be unimaginable for a politician or budget expert to suggest cutting even 30 percent, fully half of those polled say that's how much fat should be cut. One in 10 want to do away with more than half the federal budget.

The telephone poll of 1,004 adults was taken the last five days of August by ICR Survey Research Group, part of AUS Consultants. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The response was clear on how much the federal government wastes: 72 percent said "a great deal" and 23 percent said "quite a lot." Two percent said "not very much," and 3 percent were not sure.

Welfare seemed wasteful to 59 percent overall, but not to most blacks and to those earning less than $15,000.

Two-thirds of those polled said Social Security spending is efficient, not wasteful. Men were more likely to consider it wasteful than women, upper-income people more than lower-income, young people more than old people, Republicans more than Democrats.

Those who say a program is wasteful may still support it or tolerate its expense. They may want the same money spent more wisely.

Most of those polled, 94 percent, found wastefulness in at least one of the categories listed in the poll. Agreement that any particular category was wasteful ranged from 71 percent in foreign aid and 56 percent in the arts to 38 percent in health care for the elderly and 29 percent in Social Security.

In other categories, 44 percent said the government was wasteful in drug treatment, 44 percent in environmental protection and 42 percent in price supports for farmers.

by CNB