Doing What Works

A project of the Center for American Progress with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation's Campaign for American Workersc

President Barack Obama during his Inaugural address: "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works. When the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. When the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

Jeff Zients, Federal Chief Performance Officer: "Trust in government is at a low point. Its been that way for a couple of decades. At the same time, we need government to perform."

Shelly Metzenbaum, Associate Director for Personal Management, OMB: "There's a lot of suspicion of any large organization, and there's a lot of suspicion of government."

Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer: "Unfortunately, what we've seen for far too long is a culture where people have accepted the notion that government doesn't work, that government can't work."

Rep. David Obey, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations: "And sometimes political philosophy gets in the way, and political ideology gets in the way, of making hard-nosed judgments about which programs actually work and which ones don't."

John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress: "We created the Doing What Works project to focus on three things, really. One was to identify programs that weren't producing sufficient results and either fix 'em or kill 'em. Secondly, we wanted to take the best practices from business and apply those across the board in the federal government to enhance productivity."

David Kappos, Director, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, "My observation is, after about 11 months here, that by the government being more effective in general and operating in what I would call more of a business-like fashion, in general you gain enormous capability to serve the American people."

Podesta: "And finally I think we were committed to a methodology of constant, relentless measurement."

Kundra: "And we've seen that when you focus on performance, when you focus on what works, and scale it, that it does produce results, it saves taxpayer dollars."

Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation: "The public is desperately eager to believe that the government--or some elements of the public at least--eager to see government working. Government needs to show it."

Anthony Miller, Deputy Director, Department of Education, "I think at the end of the day they'll judge us by outcomes. They will judge us by, is education better for my son, my daughter, my niece, my nephew. And over time as it is better, I think they'll say, 'wow, government can work for us.' But ultimately we're going to have to deliver."

Podesta: "I've seen it done. I think that can be done. I think they're off to a good start. But it's going to take constant attention."