It never fails to amaze me just how easily the federal budget could be cut with there being no ill effects for the country. So much money gets wasted in Washington, that most of the world's nations could live comfortably just on that amount alone. Despite this horrendous waste, whenever president Obama talks about spending, he is always pushing for more; he never talks about getting rid of the waste and fraud and useless programs in any meaningful way.
I have a suggestion that could easily be accomplished and which would move us all towards avoiding the problems of a crushing debt burden. Let's have the secretary of each federal department and the chairman or other head of each independent federal agency put forth a list of ten items in that department/agency's budget that can be eliminated or cut by at least 50%. The total amount to be cut must be at least 1% of the budget for the entire department/agency for the year.
This program would cause many of the Democrats to scream like stuck pigs, but if there were actual programs that were proposed to bear the brunt of the tiny cuts, Americans could see the actual impacts of what was being proposed. Any department that put for essential programs to be cut could easily be seen trying to game the system and avoid all cuts. Without a doubt, each of these units has ten items that could be cut. Suppose, for example, the Department of Veterans' affairs proposed closing a VA hospital. Unless this were a place that served very few, no one would accept the idea that this was a good faith effort to cut spending. On the other hand, if the same department suggested that it reorganize the job training programs intended for disabled veterans so that there was one large program with only one management instead of the seven or more that exist today, there is no question that Congress would go along with the cut. The only folks who are served by having seven veterans' training programs rather than one are the people in the duplicative management of the extra six programs. They are unnecessary to get the services to the vets; they just live off the public treasury without reason.
Let's be clear. A reduction of 1% in projected federal spending this year which carries on into the future means a cut in the deficit over the next decade of just about half a trillion dollars. This will not solve the problem entirely, but it certainly will be a great next step in the fight against waste.
I have a suggestion that could easily be accomplished and which would move us all towards avoiding the problems of a crushing debt burden. Let's have the secretary of each federal department and the chairman or other head of each independent federal agency put forth a list of ten items in that department/agency's budget that can be eliminated or cut by at least 50%. The total amount to be cut must be at least 1% of the budget for the entire department/agency for the year.
This program would cause many of the Democrats to scream like stuck pigs, but if there were actual programs that were proposed to bear the brunt of the tiny cuts, Americans could see the actual impacts of what was being proposed. Any department that put for essential programs to be cut could easily be seen trying to game the system and avoid all cuts. Without a doubt, each of these units has ten items that could be cut. Suppose, for example, the Department of Veterans' affairs proposed closing a VA hospital. Unless this were a place that served very few, no one would accept the idea that this was a good faith effort to cut spending. On the other hand, if the same department suggested that it reorganize the job training programs intended for disabled veterans so that there was one large program with only one management instead of the seven or more that exist today, there is no question that Congress would go along with the cut. The only folks who are served by having seven veterans' training programs rather than one are the people in the duplicative management of the extra six programs. They are unnecessary to get the services to the vets; they just live off the public treasury without reason.
Let's be clear. A reduction of 1% in projected federal spending this year which carries on into the future means a cut in the deficit over the next decade of just about half a trillion dollars. This will not solve the problem entirely, but it certainly will be a great next step in the fight against waste.
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