WASHINGTON -- The federal government's Office of Management and Budget said it has reviewed the performance of 793 programs that receive nearly $1.5 trillion worth of taxpayer money and concluded that nearly a third are failing to measure up.

A Senate committee hearing this week examined why Congress doesn't do a better job tying funding to performance.

Some programs have been in existence for decades and have spent billions of dollars and in many cases, we don't know if they're working," said Eileen Norcross of the Government Accountability Project.

Consider the Department of Housing & Urban Development. OMB said 22 percent of the department's funding goes to ineffective programs.

But a government watchdog group believes many programs may be getting a bad rap. It said the government's performance assessments are designed with built-in biases.

"It's perfectly fine for the executive branch to have their own systems and whatever they like. The problem occurs when they try to sell that to Congress as the one objective evaluator," said Adam Hughes of OMB Watch.

President George W. Bush is calling on Congress to eliminate or reduce funding for ineffective programs.

Last year, Congress agreed to terminate or reduce funding to 89 of the 154 programs recommende for cuts, saving more than $6 billion.

To check the performance ratings of federally-funded programs, visit www.expectmore.gov.