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In response to a request by President Reagan, industrialist
Peter Grace and columnist Jack Anderson formed the Grace Commission in 1982.
After two years the Commission published its findings in the 21,000-page Grace
Commission Report. Since then the Grace Commission evolved into a nonprofit
organization called Citizens
Against Government Waste with over a million members. They have worked to
make that vision a reality and, in a little over a decade, have helped save
taxpayers $687 billion through the implementation of Grace Commission's findings
and cost effective recommendations.
One of their publications called
Prime Cuts 2001 is a current blueprint for more efficient government, and
estimates that $159 billion per year can be cut from government spending.
Citizens' Assembly' baseline annual budget is about $60 million. For each $1 spent for the
Citizens' Assembly, Prime Cuts estimates the potential savings from reduced government waste
alone to be
$2,000. Obviously many of Prime Cuts' savings will not be easily realized, but
it is also clear that the Citizens' Assembly should be very cost
effective and produce in a huge return on the People's
investment in it.
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