Biden Pushes Cabinet to Trim Fat on Department Budgets

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Cabinet secretaries to root out waste in their departments and sketched new programs meant to trim fat from the government’s budget.

At a Cabinet meeting focused on reducing waste in government, Biden announced a new program that the administration estimates will save $2.1 billion in Medicare waste and fraud over five years. The initiative, the Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor Program, will send $900 million of the money saved to states, administration officials said.