There are 14 grant and loan programs in the departments of Energy and Transportation and U.S. EPA aimed at curbing motor vehicles' diesel emissions. And there's another three tax provisions targeted at the same goal.

Such overlapping efforts are what the Government Accountability Office targets in its second annual duplicative programs report. Many of the 51 programs that GAO highlights this year involve a mix of direct spending, government financing programs and tax provisions. There is no price tag put on potential savings if programs are streamlined.

But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) -- who included language in the 2010 debt limit measure requiring GAO to conduct the study -- estimates the 81 duplicative programs identified in last year's report represented $100 billion in savings.

According to a copy of testimony that GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro submitted for a hearing today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the government's green building program has also turned into a duplicative problem area.

Dodaro's testimony notes that the government currently runs 90 separate initiatives for fostering green building in the nonfederal sector. The report recommends that DOE, EPA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development take the lead in assessing those programs and finding ways to streamline and combine efforts.

In addition, GAO recommends that EPA revise its management practices at its 37 laboratories in order to reduce overlap and fully leverage its limited, and shrinking, resources.

At DOE, the report recommends a similar review when it comes to contractor support costs.

DOE should "assess whether further opportunities could be taken to streamline support functions, estimated to cost over $5 billion, at its contractor-managed laboratory and nuclear production and testing sites, in light of contractors' historically fragmented approach to providing these functions," the testimony states.

Also included are recommendations for increasing federal revenue. Among the various proposals listed in that section of the report is a proposal to sell DOE's excess uranium for commercial use.

The proposal, which GAO has put forward in the past, could generate billions of dollars, the report states, by selling off depleted and natural uranium that the government no longer requires for nuclear weapons or naval propulsion systems.

The process would require congressional action to overcome certain legal obstacles and that approval is no sure thing.

Earlier this month, lawmakers from mining states wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu warning him that dumping enriched uranium on the domestic marketplace would kill jobs and hurt the domestic uranium mining and conversion industries. (E&ENews PM, Feb. 3)

This year's report also includes an update on the 81 areas GAO identified in last year's report. GAO's assessment found that the government had fully addressed four of those recommendations, partially addressed 60 and had not yet addressed 17 areas.

Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued a statement yesterday for the hearing portraying the GAO report as a call to action for Congress and the Obama administration.

"I have always said that the enemy isn't the Democrats, the enemy isn't the Republicans -- it's the bureaucracy," Issa said. "A bureaucracy that inherently resists change and adaptation."

Schedule: The hearing is today at 9:30 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn.

Witnesses: GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)