Efficient government is not the same thing as less government.

As the Trump administration, Congress and the Department of Government Efficiency take steps toward reform, they should not simply be trying to create a federal government that does less with less. Ideally, the goal should be to achieve good outcomes using no more tax dollars than necessary.

While it may not grab headlines, and while it hasn’t yet been fully put to the test, a bipartisan government-reform law passed several years ago could help.

Waste and fraud are obvious enemies of efficiency, and given the surge in such things that we’ve experienced since the pandemic, it’s a good place to focus on first.

According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, often referred to as the “congressional watchdog,” waste occurs when “individuals or organizations expend government resources carelessly, extravagantly or without adequate purpose.” Its officials have identified a huge amount of waste over the years, but nothing like they’ve found over the last few years.

Just this past year alone, they estimate that there were $162 billion in improper payments — those that a government agency made but should not have........

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