Obama declares crackdown on federal waste

WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama launched a federal waste-cutting drive Monday -- to be led by Vice President Joe Biden.

The White House promised the campaign "will hunt down and eliminate misspent tax dollars in every agency and department across the federal government."

Biden said the Campaign to Cut Waste will build on the Accountable Government Initiative, led by Budget Director Jacob Lew and his deputy, Jeffrey Zients, which the administration said "has already tackled waste and inefficiency in many areas across government, cutting contracting spending for the first time in 13 years, identifying $3 billion in information technology savings, shutting down duplicative data centers and getting rid of excess federal real estate."

Obama signed an executive order empaneling a Government Accountability and Transparency Board to report back within six months and setting up regular Cabinet meetings to report to Biden on progress reducing waste.

As a first step, the administration said it would stop creating new federal Web sites, which now number almost 2,000, and consolidate existing ones.

The White House said it would build on the model of the stimulus program, which it hailed for "unprecedented transparency."