Yep...thats your work.

Government: "We're zeroing your line in all future budgets."

No joke, it happened to me. It took more like a couple of years and hundreds of lines of FORTRAN, but my boss had to leave government work for another job, and I've been a warm body on whatever project needs one, ever since.

Well, government agencies aren't supposed to be efficient. They're supposed to extract as much tax money from their citizens as they can, and redirect it toward socially responsible and politically correct projects, like adding more marble statues to the governor's mansion. Making a money-saving change to any government project is the WORST thing you could do, because then your higher-ups won't be able to hide their pork projects in your budget, and they might even have to buy cheaper statues... maybe even statues made of marble resin instead of real marble. WE CAN'T HAVE THAT.

If you don't spend the money that's budgeted to you, then you lose that money the following year. Therefore, make sure to spend all of the money allocated AND cry for more money constantly. Make sure the cries are accompanied with horror stories about how you won't be able to complete your core mission or job duties due to lack of whatever (material, manpower, training, etc). Make sure that the job is done well enough to not get fired, but poorly enough to not negate your predictions of failure.