I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1436 
To provide for the evaluation of Government programs for efficiency, 
effectiveness, and accountability. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 11, 2009 
Mr. CUELLAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To provide for the evaluation of Government programs for 
efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Effi-
ciency, Effectiveness, and Accountability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) 
inefficiency, 
ineffectiveness, 
and 
unaccountability in Federal programs undermines 
the confidence of the American people in the Gov-
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ernment and reduces the Federal Government’s abil-
ity to adequately address vital public needs; 
(2) insufficient information on program per-
formance seriously disadvantages Federal managers 
in their efforts to improve program efficiency, effec-
tiveness, and accountability; 
(3) congressional policy making, spending deci-
sions, and program oversight are handicapped by in-
sufficient attention to program performance and re-
sults; 
(4) programs performing similar or duplicative 
functions that exist within a single agency or across 
multiple agencies should be identified and their per-
formance and results shared among all such pro-
grams to improve their performance and results; 
(5) advocates of good government continue to 
seek ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and 
accountability; focus on results; and integrate the 
performance of programs with decisions about budg-
ets; 
(6) with the passage of the Government Per-
formance and Results Act of 1993, the Congress di-
rected the executive branch to seek improvements in 
the effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability of 
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Federal programs by having agencies focus on pro-
gram results; and 
(7) the Government Performance and Results 
Act of 1993 provided a strong framework for the ex-
ecutive branch to monitor the long-term goals and 
annual performance of its departments and agencies. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING STRATEGIC AND 
PERFORMANCE 
PLANS 
OF 
THE 
GOVERN-
MENT. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the President should establish a govern-
ment-wide strategic plan and a government-wide 
performance plan; and 
(2) the head of each Federal agency should con-
sult with the committees with jurisdiction over the 
agency and other interested members of Congress at 
the beginning of each Congress regarding the per-
formance plan of the agency (required by section 
1115 of title 31, United States Code). 
SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to improve the Government Performance 
and Results Act of 1993 by implementing a program 
assessment and evaluation process that attempts to 
determine the strengths and weaknesses of Federal 
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programs with a particular focus on the efficiency, 
effectiveness, and accountability of Federal pro-
grams and to identify programs that have missions 
or outcomes that are duplicative; 
(2) to use the information gathered in the as-
sessment and evaluation process to build on the 
groundwork laid in the Government Performance 
and Results Act of 1993 to help the executive 
branch make informed management decisions and 
results-based funding requests aimed at achieving 
positive results; 
(3) to provide congressional policy makers the 
information needed to conduct more effective over-
sight, to make better-informed authorization deci-
sions, and to make more results-based spending de-
cisions that achieve positive results for the American 
people; 
(4) to encourage the wise expenditure of funds 
on the most effective Federal programs in an effort 
to save money; 
(5) to eliminate Federal programs subject to 
waste, fraud, and abuse; 
(6) to identify best practices in Federal pro-
grams for allocating resources in an efficient and ef-
fective manner; 
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