That issue came to light after President Obama recently asked his cabinet secretaries to trim $100 million from their departments’ budgets, as a sign of solidarity with citizens and businesses who are doing their own belt-tightening.

And where are the cuts coming from? One big area is in buying toner, paper, and other office supplies. More than ever, it seems, the government is looking to take advantage of its massive purchasing power to get better discounts. For example:

• The Department of Homeland Security estimates that they can save up to $52 million over five years just by purchasing office supplies in bulk
• The State Department plans to save up to 7 percent on office supplies through the same strategy
• The Homeland Security Department will save up to $52 million a year over the next five years through bulk purchasing of office supplies. It currently buys more than $100 million a year  in supplies.

The savings may seem trivial in light of the trillions of dollars flying out of Washington these days, but even a few million here or there can’t hurt. The sad implication was that these departments haven’t leveraged bulk purchasing before, even after years of administrations claiming they’d run “mean and lean” operations.

Political analysts and purchasing managers alike laughed at the idea that the feds don’t already buy supplies in bulk. “What does the government do? Send a guy down to the store every time it needs a ream of copier paper?” asked Roger Simon of Politico.