I blogged yesterday about a new task force that was recently created within the Senate Budget Committee that will focus on government performance issues. The task force (SBCTFGP?) got things started this morning with its first hearing, where Jeffrey D. Zients, the Deputy Director for Management and Chief Performance Officer at Office of Management and Budget testified along with Sir Michael Barber from McKinsey & Company and Dr. Paul Posner from George Mason University.

The hearing had a pretty good turnout actually. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Budget Committee was there, along with Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) - chairman of the Task Force, Jim Bunning (R-KY), John Ensign (R-NV), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ben Cardin (D-MD). Also, despite my dig yesterday at the Senate Budget Committee website for not posting the hearing announcement, the archived webcast and witness's testimony are available on the committee's website right now. So if you missed the hearing this morning, dig in!

Government Performance Task Force Hearing Materials:
Archived webcast of hearing

Testimony of Jeffrey Zients
Testimony of Sir. Michael Barber
Testimony of Dr. Paul Posner