the private sector survey on cost control (psscc), commonly referred to as the grace commission, was an investigation requested by united states president ronald reagan, authorized in on june 30, 1982. in doing so president reagan used the now famous phrase, "drain the swamp". the focus was waste and inefficiency in the us federal government. its head, businessman j. peter grace, asked the members of that commission to "be bold and work like tireless bloodhounds, don't leave any stone unturned in your search to root out inefficiency."