Almost every presidency has taken more or less responisble effors to minimize spending. But they werent aimed at people who had prosecuted those in power, targetted at regulation agencies for the president's oligarch cronies, racially targetted, or driven by outsiders with no experience:
Initiated under President Jimmy Carter in 1977, Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) required agencies to justify their budgets from scratch rather than just adjusting from the previous year.
President Ronald Reagan pushed for privatization, deregulation, and reduced federal spending.
The Grace Commission (1982-1984), led by businessman J. Peter Grace, was tasked with identifying inefficiencies in government.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton launched the National Performance Review (later renamed the National Partnership for Reinventing Government), led by Vice President Al Gore.
The NPR aimed to make government "work better and cost less" by cutting red tape, streamlining bureaucracy, and increasing customer service.
Key successes included shifting more government services online, consolidating purchasing, and reducing federal workforce size.
Launched by President George W. Bush in 2001, the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) focused on:
Strategic management of human capital
Competitive sourcing (increasing private-sector competition for government contracts)
Financial performance improvements
E-Government expansion (improving federal websites and online services)
Budget and performance integration
2010s: DATA Act & Digital Transformation
President Barack Obama signed the DATA Act (2014), which aimed to improve transparency and accountability in government spending.
Obama also created the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and 18F, teams dedicated to modernizing government technology.
The Trump administration’s PMA (2018) emphasized IT modernization, data transparency, and a shift to "shared services", where multiple agencies use the same administrative systems.
The Biden administration has continued these efforts, focusing on AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, as well as improving citizen-facing services like healthcare and tax processing.
Initiated under President Jimmy Carter in 1977, Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) required agencies to justify their budgets from scratch rather than just adjusting from the previous year.
President Ronald Reagan pushed for privatization, deregulation, and reduced federal spending.
The Grace Commission (1982-1984), led by businessman J. Peter Grace, was tasked with identifying inefficiencies in government.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton launched the National Performance Review (later renamed the National Partnership for Reinventing Government), led by Vice President Al Gore.
The NPR aimed to make government "work better and cost less" by cutting red tape, streamlining bureaucracy, and increasing customer service.
Key successes included shifting more government services online, consolidating purchasing, and reducing federal workforce size.
Launched by President George W. Bush in 2001, the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) focused on:
Strategic management of human capital
Competitive sourcing (increasing private-sector competition for government contracts)
Financial performance improvements
E-Government expansion (improving federal websites and online services)
Budget and performance integration
2010s: DATA Act & Digital Transformation
President Barack Obama signed the DATA Act (2014), which aimed to improve transparency and accountability in government spending.
Obama also created the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and 18F, teams dedicated to modernizing government technology.
The Trump administration’s PMA (2018) emphasized IT modernization, data transparency, and a shift to "shared services", where multiple agencies use the same administrative systems.
The Biden administration has continued these efforts, focusing on AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, as well as improving citizen-facing services like healthcare and tax processing.