Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 8, 1993 TAG: 9309080170
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Under Gore's plan, the government would offer buyouts and early retirements to an undetermined number of workers, but administration officials acknowledge that layoffs may be needed to achieve the 252,000-person reduction.
Clinton and Gore estimate that the proposed new cutbacks and consolidations will save $108 billion over the next five years, although officials concede that many of the cost savings are speculative - based on legislative proposals the administration has not completed. The three largest components of that savings figure would be personnel cutbacks, $40 billion; agency consolidations, $36 billion; and reforming the rules under which the government now buys $200 billion in goods and services each year, $22 billion.
Clinton's political advisers see the government reform project as key to their hopes of convincing voters of two things: that government can work effectively to carry out the ambitious agenda Clinton has offered, and that the president is the sort of "New Democrat" he portrayed in his campaign.
Standing with Clinton on the White House south lawn, backed by forklifts piled high with bound volumes of government regulations, Gore said the main finding of his six-month-long National Performance Review is that Washington is in the grip of an "old-fashioned, outdated government. It's government using a quill pen in the age of Word Perfect."
by CNB