The federal government is wasting billions of taxpayer dollars because of overlapping programs, according to a new report by the General Accounting Office.
   
USA Today reports the study found 31 areas of duplicated spending, including the following:

• At least 23 federal agencies run hundreds of programs to support renewable energy.    
• Agencies spend billions on data for maps without checking to see if any other government agency already has maps they could use.
• Each branch of the armed services has its own camouflage uniforms that are not shared with other services.

The General Accounting Office could not say how much money is being wasted.
        
"The big problem the GAO had, if you read the report, they can't adequately estimate their savings because agencies can't tell them how much they're spending," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. "We're a mess."