GREEN BAY, Wis. — Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama moved to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility in a roiling economy, vowing Monday to slash federal spending on contractors by 10 percent and saving $40 billion.
Urging members of his own party to be just as fiscally tough as the most conservative Republicans, Obama said the $700 billion economic-bailout plan proposed by the Bush administration and congressional leaders is forcing a renewed look at federal spending.
As president, Obama said he would create a White House team headed by a chief performance officer to monitor the efficiency of government spending.
“I am not a Democrat who believes that we can or should defend every government program just because it’s there,” he said at a rally in Green Bay. “We will fire government managers who aren’t getting results; we will cut funding for programs that are wasting your money; and we will use technology and lessons from the private sector to improve efficiency across every level of government.”
