As DOGE forges ahead to make the government more efficient and less wasteful, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) would like to ensure that legislators, the media, and taxpayers are reminded about the accomplishments of the Grace Commission, which was the last comprehensive analysis and review of the federal government.  President Ronald Reagan’s remarks on the 10th anniversary of the Grace Commission report noted that $240 billion had been saved so far, which is 59 percent of the $424.4 billion that the commission estimated would be saved over three years once all recommendations were fully implemented.  CAGW’s 2024 Prime Cuts cited $2.4 trillion in savings from Grace Commission and other waste-cutting proposals since the organization was established by Peter Grace and Jack Anderson in 1984 at President Reagan’s suggestion to not let the report “gather dust on a shelf.”

President Ronald Reagan

Remarks Honoring Peter Grace

at the Grace Commission 10th Anniversary Gala

December 7, 1994

         GOOD EVENING...AND THANK YOU FOR COMING TONIGHT.

         WE'VE GATHERED TONIGHT  TO TRACE THE TRAJECTORY OF A SINGLE IDEA, TO MARK THE MATURITY OF A CITIZEN'S MOVEMENT LITTLE MORE THAN A DECADE OLD, AND TO SALUTE THE REMARKABLE MAN WHO PROVED THAT CHANGE WAS POSSIBLE. 

         THE IDEA, WHICH OUR FOUNDERS WOULD HAVE THOUGHT AXIOMATIC, WAS THIS: TAXPAYERS DESERVE EFFICIENT, HONEST, AND FRUGAL GOVERNMENT.  WE HAD AN EVEN SIMPLER WORD FOR IT BACK WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN DIXON, ILLINOIS: THRIFTINESS.  THAT THIS NEARLY FORGOTTEN VIRTUE WOULD STRIKE OFFICIAL WASHINGTON AS REVOLUTIONARY -- EVEN DANGEROUS -- IS A SAD MEASURE OF HOW FAR ALONG THE PATH OF FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY WE  HAD TRAVELED BY THE TIME I TOOK OFFICE BACK IN 1981. 

         MANY OF YOU UNDOUBTEDLY REMEMBER THE CYNICISM AND SCORN WITH WHICH THE PERMANENT WASHINGTON ESTABLISHMENT GREETED THE FORMATION OF THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE SECTOR SURVEY ON COST CONTROL, LATER REFERRED TO AS THE GRACE COMMISSION.  OF COURSE, THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM THEN WAS THAT WASTE IN GOVERNMENT WAS ENDEMIC, SO INGRAINED AND "STRUCTURAL" THAT NOTHING COULD BE DONE ABOUT IT.

         ONLY A FEW WERE CANDID ENOUGH TO ADMIT THAT A WASTEFUL AND OVERBLOWN FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY WAS ALSO A BOON TO SPECIAL INTERESTS, LOBBYISTS, AND TURF-HUNGRY POLITICIANS WHO HAD STAKED THEIR POLITICAL FORTUNES ON THE ABILITY TO SPEND OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.  WASHINGTON'S DEFEATISM AND CYNICISM WERE BEGINNING TO TRICKLE DOWN, LEADING THE COMMON PEOPLE TO DESPAIR -- TO LOSE HOPE THAT ANYTHING COULD OR WOULD BE DONE ABOUT THE INSATIABLE LEVIATHAN THEN ON THE LOOSE.  

         MY OWN CRUSADE AGAINST OVERSIZED, SLOPPY GOVERNMENT GOES BACK AT LEAST AS FAR AS 1967 WHEN, AS GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA, I FIRST ASKED A GROUP OF PRIVATE SECTOR EXECUTIVES TO SURVEY THE STATE BUREAUCRACY AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SAVINGS.  WELL, THEY DID A MARVELOUS JOB, SAVING CALIFORNIANS MORE THAN $250 MILLION AND RESTORING FISCAL INTEGRITY TO A STATE THAT HAD BEEN SPENDING A MILLION DOLLARS A DAY MORE THAN IT WAS TAKING IN.  IF IT COULD WORK AT THE STATE LEVEL, I THOUGHT, WHY NOT THE FEDERAL? 

         SO I CAMPAIGNED AGAINST FEDERAL WASTE, FRAUD, AND MISMANAGEMENT AS A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN 1980, WHICH PLAYED MUCH BETTER IN PEORIA THAN IT DID ALONG THE POTOMAC.  IN MY FIRST STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH I CALLED WASTE IN GOVERNMENT AN "UNRELENTING NATIONAL SCANDAL."  BUT NOT LONG AFTER, I DID SOMETHING EVEN MORE DISTRESSING TO THE WASHINGTON ESTABLISHMENT: I LAUNCHED THE MOST AMBITIOUS PRIVATE SECTOR EFFORT EVER TO FERRET OUT WASTE AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL. 

         I BELIEVE THE CREATION OF THE GRACE COMMISSION WILL BE REMEMBERED BY HISTORIANS, AS WELL AS OUR GRATEFUL GRANDCHILDREN, AS THE OPENING VOLLEY IN AMERICA'S WAR AGAINST WASTE  -- AS THE MOMENT WHEN AMERICANS BEGAN TO RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO STOP MORTGAGING THE FUTURE TO PAY FOR THE EXCESSES OF THE PAST.  IT WAS A DAUNTING AND EXHAUSTIVE TASK, TWO YEARS IN THE DOING AND DEMANDING ENORMOUS PERSONAL SACRIFICES BY MORE THAN 2,000 PEOPLE DIRECTLY INVOLVED.    POCKETS OF RESENTMENT AND RESISTANCE WITHIN THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY HAD TO BE OVERCOME.  YET, WHEN COMPLETE IT COST THE TAXPAYERS NOTHING -- THE PRIVATE SECTOR DONATED OVER $76 MILLION IN PERSONNEL, MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT, AND TRAVEL COSTS TO GET THE JOB DONE.

         THE RESULTING 47-VOLUME REPORT, WITH 1.5 MILLION PAGES OF BACKUP DOCUMENTATION, INCLUDED SAVINGS OF $424.4 BILLION OVER THREE YEARS.  THERE WERE 2,478 RECOMMENDATIONS SPANNING THE ENTIRE BUREAUCRACY, WHICH FELL ON WASHINGTON LIKE A SUDDEN CLAP OF THUNDER, HERALDING THE COMING STORM.  NATURALLY,   THE SPECIAL INTERESTS AND POWERS THAT BE BATTENED DOWN THE HATCHES, HOPING THAT THIS WAS JUST ANOTHER ONE THEY COULD RIDE OUT.

         BUT THIS STORM DID NOT PASS.  IN FACT, IT RAGES WITH EVEN MORE INTENSITY TODAY, TEN YEARS LATER, LASHING AT REACTIONARY ELEMENTS IN CONGRESS AND GRADUALLY WASHING AWAY THE BULWARKS OF SELF-PRESERVATION THEY HAVE CONSTRUCTED.  

         YOU SEE, COMPLETION AND DELIVERY OF THE GRACE COMMISSION REPORT WAS JUST THE OPENING ROUND.  WHILE MANY RECOMMENDATIONS COULD BE INSTITUTED THROUGH PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE, OTHERS HAD TO BE APPROVED BY A TERRITORIAL AND OFTEN HOSTILE CONGRESS.  ALTHOUGH THE GRACE COMMISSION WAS OF BI-PARTISAN COMPOSITION, AND CLEARLY IN THE BROADER NATIONAL INTEREST, THE WASTE ISSUE BECAME A POLITICAL FOOTBALL.

         ONLY RECENTLY HAS THE WAR ON WASTE BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED AND EMBRACED BY INFLUENTIAL DEMOCRATS.  WHILE COMPLETE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRACE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS CONTINUES TO ELUDE US, MORE THAN $250 BILLION HAVE BEEN SAVED SO FAR BY THE REFORMS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE.  AND MANY MORE BILLIONS WILL BE SAVED WHEN WE FINALLY ACHIEVE FULL IMPLEMENTATION.

         SO, CONTRARY TO ANOTHER PIECE OF CONVENTIONAL WASHINGTON WISDOM, THE GRACE REPORT IS NOT GATHERING DUST ON SOME SHELF SOMEWHERE.  IT IS A LIVING DOCUMENT, AS VITAL TODAY AS THE MOMENT IT WAS PUT ON MY DESK A DECADE AGO.  AT LEAST ONE QUARTER OF THE IDEAS CONTAINED IN VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE'S NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW WERE GRACE COMMISSION DERIVATIVES, EITHER IN SPIRIT OR FACT.

         WITHOUT THE GRACE COMMISSION, WE WOULD NOT HAVE PASSED THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERS ACT, OR GOTTEN ON WITH THE DIFFICULT BUT NECESSARY TASK OF SHRINKING OUR MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE, OR LAUNCHED A CITIZENS MOVEMENT THAT HELPED MAKE THE WASTE ISSUE PRIORITY NUMBER ONE ON THE NATIONAL AGENDA. 

         FINALLY, WITHOUT THE GRACE COMMISSION AND ITS FEISTY OFFSPRING, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE, ORDINARY TAXPAYERS WOULD LACK A FOCAL POINT FOR THEIR DISCONTENT.  UNDER THE INSPIRED LEADERSHIP OF JACK ANDERSON AND PETER GRACE, CAGW HAS HELPED ENSURE THAT FIGHTING GOVERNMENT WASTE REMAINS A NATIONAL PRIORITY AND SERVED AS EVERY MAN'S ALLY IN WASHINGTON.

         BACK WHEN PETER AND JACK PUT IT TOGETHER, I CALLED IT "THE PEOPLE'S LOBBY."  WORKING WITH THE CONGRESSIONAL GRACE CAUCUS, CAGW CONTINUES TO LOOK OUT FOR THE GENERAL INTEREST IN A TOWN WHERE THE SPECIAL INTERESTS HAVE LONG DOMINATED. 

         NOW, I KNOW YOU WON'T MIND IF I SAY A FEW WORDS ABOUT AN OLD AND DEAR FRIEND OF MINE, WITHOUT WHOM NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE -- PETER GRACE.  ALTHOUGH JUSTIFIABLY RENOWNED AS A BUSINESS LEADER, PHILANTHROPIST, AND FAMILY MAN, WE HONOR HIM TONIGHT AS A VISIONARY, REFORMER, AND PATRIOT. 

         I CAN THINK OF FEW AMERICANS WHO HAVE DONE MORE TO MAKE THE COMMON PEOPLE'S VOICE HEARD IN WASHINGTON.  THE "PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE" WAS A WAY OF LIFE FOR PETER GRACE LONG BEFORE IT BECAME A BEST-SELLING BOOK OR BOARDROOM CLICHÉ -- AND THAT SPIRIT INFUSED THE NOBLE ENDEAVOR WHICH BEARS HIS NAME. 

         PETER'S WAS A MESSAGE THAT SHOOK WASHINGTON, DELIVERED IN A FEARLESS, STRAIGHT-TALKING MANNER SURE TO GET ATTENTION.  NO ONE EVER ACCUSED PETER GRACE OF MINCING WORDS, OR -- HOW SHOULD I PUT THIS -- OF BEING A MAN WHO FEARS TAKING THINGS TO THEIR LOGICAL CONCLUSION.

         ARMED WITH HIS REPORT AND HUNDREDS OF EXAMPLES OF GOVERNMENT EXCESS,  PETER STOOD TOE-TO-TOE WITH THE ENTRENCHED BUREAUCRATS AND CONGRESSIONAL OLD BOYS' NETWORK, GIVING VOICE TO THE FEARS AND FRUSTRATIONS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS.  UNFLINCHINGLY, HE TOLD US SOME HARD TRUTHS ABOUT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH OUR GOVERNMENT AND LAID OUT A PLAN FOR HOW TO FIX IT.

         HE TAUGHT US THAT THE NATIONAL DEBT WAS A SIN AGAINST FUTURE GENERATIONS AND GAVE BIRTH TO A POLITICAL MOVEMENT THAT IS BEARING FRUIT TODAY.

         FINALLY, PETER REMINDED AMERICANS OF SOMETHING THEY SEEMED ON THE VERGE OF FORGETTING -- THAT A SINGLE IDEA CAN CHANGE A NATION -- EVEN ONE AS SEEMINGLY SET IN ITS WASTEFUL WAYS AS OURS ONCE WAS. 

         FOR THESE, AND MANY OTHER REASONS TOO NUMEROUS TO LIST HERE, I'M PROUD TO JOIN YOU IN HONORING PETER GRACE AND MARKING THE TEN-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDMARK COMMISSION THAT BEARS HIS NAME.  AGAIN PETER, I AM GRATEFUL TO YOU AND SO ARE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS.  AND GRATEFUL, TOO, WILL BE THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.  GOD BLESS YOU, PETER, AND GOODNIGHT.