The Spectacle Blog
MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT
IT’S THE SPENDING, STUPID!
RE: Congress left town without passing a budget; the country kept losing jobs during “Recovery Summer;” and President Obama admitted there are no such things as “shovel ready” projects-but the excessive spending by the federal government continues.
ISSUE-IN-BRIEF: Listed below are 10 specific spending cuts that Congress can get to work on when it returns. Many, many more spending cuts have been recommended by a variety of budget experts-but here is a start:
1. Repeal ObamaCare
Save taxpayers over $1 trillion dollars.
Only six months after implementation, the new health care law has proven to be a bureaucratic nightmare that has already raised insurance premiums and forced some insurers to cancel coverage plans. A clear majority of the American people have made it clear that they oppose this unconstitutional law that diminishes the quality of health care while increasing its cost.
2. Completely End TARP
Save taxpayers roughly $16 billion. [ii]
All banks should face the consequences of their actions. Taxpayers should not be forced to bailout banks that engaged in risky behavior. By canceling TARP once and for all, taxpayers will be saved billions of dollars.
3. Reduce Government Employment to 2008 Levels
Save taxpayers $35 billion over the next 10 years.
Since 2008, federal government employment has grown by 188,000 (excluding temporary Census workers.) Meanwhile, the private sector has lost over 7.9 million jobs. [iii] Taxpayers in the private sector cannot afford to pay for the excessive number of government employees that do not perform necessary functions of government. The federal government should institute policies to reduce the workforce to 2008 levels.
4. Freeze Federal Pay
A pay freeze would save taxpayers $5 billion annually.
With benefits included, the average federal government employee is paid $123,049—while the average private sector employee receives only $61,051 annually. After adjusting for inflation, federal employee wages increased 36.9 percent while private sector wages rose only 8.8 percent since 2000.= In order to restore fiscal sanity, the number of federal government employees should be frozen until the budget is balanced.
5. Sell Excess Federal Property
Save taxpayers up to $15 billion.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the federal government is holding on to $18 billion in property that it does not need. Requiring the federal government to sell excessive property could potentially save taxpayers billions of dollars. [vi]
6. End Tax-Payer Funding and Subsidizing for Abortions Domestically & Overseas
Save Taxpayers $739 million
President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy, allowing tax dollars to flow to groups that promote abortion under the category of International Family Planning. In FY 2010 $648.5 million was appropriated for this effort. Additionally, in FY 2009 federal funds were awarded to well known abortion advocacy organizations such as the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, SEICUS, and the Population Council.
7. Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Reforming Fannie and Freddie Mac could save taxpayers at least $30 billion.
So far, taxpayers have been forced to spend $145 billion to bailout the irresponsible actions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Action must be taken immediately to privatize the current government sponsored mortgage-backing companies. If Congress delays reforming Fannie and Freddie Mac, taxpayers will likely be on the hook for billions more dollars.
8. Eliminate Subsidies for Amtrak
Save taxpayers $202 million a year.
Despite the fact that the majority of trains remain fairly empty, government-run Amtrak runs an abundance of trains daily. In fact, Amtrak actually loses money on most of its train routes. Taxpayers are forced to pay $32 per Amtrak passenger to make up for these losses. Yet riders still complain regularly about spotty Amtrak service and frequent delays. The private sector could likely provide a better quality train service at a lower cost.
9. End Energy Subsidies
Save taxpayers $20 billion a year.
Over the last 30 years, energy subsidies have failed to produce any promising results. The private sector is fully capable of investing in energy technology. Unfortunately, government subsidies have crowded out private investment in energy. While it may take some time, the private sector has already begun to produce more efficient energy sources.
10. Reduce Federal Farm Subsidies
Completely ending the peanut & sugar subsidies would save taxpayers $1.3 billion annually.
Federal farm subsidies are America’s largest corporate welfare program costing taxpayers more than $245.2 billion since 1995. Despite the claims that farm subsidies go to struggling family farmers, two-thirds of farm subsidy checks go to the wealthiest 10 percent of farmers. It is hard to justify that taxpayers should be forced to pay for the hobby farms of rich celebrities such as David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, or Scottie Pippen.
CONSERVATIVE ACTION PROJECT
Duane Parde, President, National Taxpayers Union
Lewis K. Uhler, President, National Tax Limitation Committee
Tom Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Wendy Wright, President, Concerned Women for America
Edwin Meese III, former Attorney General
Karen Kerrigan, President, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
Virginia Thomas, President, Liberty Central
Mario H. Lopez, President, Hispanic Leadership Fund
Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
Susan Carleson, Chairman & CEO, American Civil Rights Union
William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government
Michelle Easton, President, Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
Bill Pascoe, Executive Vice President, Citizens for the Republic
Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director, Traditional Values Coalition
David Y. Denholm, President, Public Service Research Foundation
Ron Robinson, President, Young America’s Foundation
Dino Teppara, Chairman, Indian American Conservative Council
Mathew D. Staver, Founder & Chairman, Liberty Counsel
Becky Norton Dunlop, former Assistant Secretary of Interior, Reagan Administration
Herman Cain, President, The NEW Voice, Inc.
Myron Ebell, President, Freedom Action
James Martin, Chairman, 60 Plus Association
J. Kenneth Blackwell, former Treasurer, State of Ohio
Tom Winter, Editor-in-Chief, Human Events
Brent Bozell, President, Media Research Center
Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
Alfred Regnery, Publisher, American Spectator
Marion Edwyn Harrison, Past President, Free Congress Foundation
Richard Viguerie, Chairman, ConservtiveHQ.com
(All organizations listed are for identification purposes only)
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON PROPSED BUDGET CUTS PLEASE VISIT THESE WEBSITES:
http://www.freedomworks.org/issues/budget-spending
http://www.americansforprosperity.org/issues/spending
http://www.american.com/archive/2010/october/taxes-and-presidential-math
http://www.heritage.org/Issues/Budget-and-Spending
http://www.gop.gov/solutions/budget
http://mikepence.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3946&Itemid=109
http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/youcut/
http://policy.house.gov/files/PAYGO.pdf
http://rpc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=TaxesSpending
http://rsc.tomprice.house.gov/PolicyAnalysis/
http://www.cagw.org/reports/prime-cuts/2010/2010-prime-cuts.htm
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10533r.pdf
View all comments (16) | Leave a comment
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/10/19/conservative-leaders-its-the-s
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ncatty| 10.19.10 @ 2:52PM
11. Eliminate US Department of Education.
12. Reduce staffing of the Agriculture Department to 1914 levels.
13. Sell the US Postal Service.
Ken| 10.19.10 @ 6:50PM
14. Why stop at the Dept. of Education? The reason the Dept. of Energy was created was to reduce the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil. Since it has obviously failed in carrying out its primary mission, put it on the chopping block.
15. Reduce the Federal Highway Admin. to barebones level, reduce the federal gas tax from 18 cents to 2 cents, and place the burden of construction and maintenance of highways on the various States. That would eliminate the earmarks which accompanying every transportation reauthorization bill.
darcy| 10.19.10 @ 3:28PM
Eliminate US Department of Education!
The Feds have no business interfering with the education of our children when instead education is purely a local issue.
The purpose of the Dept of Education is to indoctrinate students into statism, making them easy prey to marxism and the destruction of our Republic. No amount of sweet talk about better equipping the young to compete in the global economy can hide the fact of the Dept's TRUE mission.
End it now!
Oldefarte| 10.19.10 @ 4:04PM
I agree with this article and the two previous postings, with the exception of governmental support for abortions [which should be increased to include support for any/all forms of birth control in order to decrease the rate of non-planned/family births which increases poverty levels and governmental welfare support payments]. Additionally, foreign aid, all forms of welfare, and excessive/wasteful military hardware government purchases/expenses should be eliminated. All of this would facilitate governmental budget balancing and debt reduction purposes, and therefore reduce the necessity of governmental tax increases. WAKE UP and VOTE 11/2/10+!!!!!!!!!!!!!
aware| 10.19.10 @ 5:13PM
If this is what the "leaders" call cuts, they don't get it. Or even half get it.
" Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac".....they would be immediately bankrupt unless you're going to hand them enough cash to cover the crap they are calling "assets"(wait, that's what we're doing NOW!). Here's a better idea, abolish them and make the private financiers/bankers eat the loss for writing mortgages they wouldn't have if it hadn't been for the government promises. And if they choke, haul out the body and make room for others at the table. Then the State gets out of the homeownership business.
"freeze Federal pay".... how about we cut that by 30% and another 30% next year. Then we see if we can squeeze 15 or 20% more the 3rd year. Start by making membership in a union illegal for government employees.
"Reduce Government Employment to 2008 Levels "....Yeah, everything was so wonderful in '08, except it wasn't. In fact it was really starting to suck bad. Where were these folks when the grits hit the fan? How about we "reduce" to 1908 levels. How bold, to suggest we go back to "only" spending ourselves into becoming a third world hasbeen at half speed instead of attack speed. Vote for us cause we're only half bad.
Nothing about the central bank, but economic freedom is highly overrated when you can have the "stability" that only the Fed gives you, huh?
Nothing to rock the boat of lobbyist controlled crony capitalism or the possibility that income tax is shear theft for the purpose of deciding who the winners and losers are.
And of course nothing about maintaining 790 overseas bases, or a "defense" budget that is more than the next 7 nations combined, or a navy that is larger than the entire world's navies combined. One less bullet and we could be attacked! Before long we won't even have to worry about those who "hate us because we are free and prosperous" cause we won't be either of those.
This is about as pitiful as the "Pledge". The commie Dems KNOW what they are about, I wonder what the "conservatives" even are anymore.
Ken (Old Texican)| 10.19.10 @ 5:44PM
Folks,
"Aware"
is once again parading his/her ignorance.
Hey, dumbass, we are in the opening stages of world War IV.
For your own mommy's safety and that of her basement where you live, you might want to screw your head back on.
Yes, our military is wasteful. But do you know what the cost of the SECOND best military in the world is?
...everything, including your sorry little life.
c. j. acworth| 10.19.10 @ 6:33PM
All that is certianly true, Ken, but even I have to wonder if we really need every one of thse overseas bases. Even if we spent the money on the military in some other way instead of saving it, it might be a better deal. How many more F-22s could we buy if we closed a few bases we don't need? I'd like to hear more about that.
aware| 10.19.10 @ 6:48PM
A really big military helped the Soviet Union continue as a first rate power too, didn't it smart ass. Or was it Afghanistan?
Get a clue, it ain't foreign armies or invaders that are enslaving you. It is your own politicians and bankers.
Now go back to your little doggies. You ain't up for what's coming, Tex. Extraordinary times call for more than ordinary cowboys.
Mike W| 10.19.10 @ 9:34PM
How about a tax hike for military spending? How about a confiscatory tax of 90 percent on everyone making over 50,000 /year to pay for the best darn military our money can buy? Can anyone put a price tag on our "sorry little lives"?
I've got a better idea. Cut the military now while we can do it in an organized manner because the time is coming when we won't have that luxury. End these useless quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan that the buffoon Bush started.
As Aware is saying , the enemy has always been within.
Aware was being much too generous using the term "smart ass". Nothing smart about it.
Blackwatch| 10.19.10 @ 10:48PM
aware & Mike W. conveniently overlook Ken's point: We are in the opening days of World War #4 and now is not the time for the types of cuts that you want.
Entitlement benefits like Medicare Prescription drug program, social security, medicaid are the real drains on the budget and they are the causes of the deficit. Government can't even run Social Security without bastardizing its original scope and screwing future generations out of their wealth.
You guys remind me of the British Parliament in 1938 tut-tutting after Winston Churchill has scolded them about the rising menace of Herr Hitler.
If you can't see the War that is coming try looking into what radical Islam, Iran, India, and China are all doing in the Indian Ocean. All the worlds commerce flows in, out, and through the Indian Ocean.
We need a blue water navy and our allies need a blue water navy.
Time is short.
Prepare.
We don't have much longer as an "empire"--and you two chums can cheer the decline of America all you want. But it will be a black period of years or decades when World when America declines and submits to the likes of China.
aware| 10.20.10 @ 5:49AM
I agree about entitlements, but why do you believe "Government can't even run Social Security" and yet think the same bunch can make no mistakes in running the military? The commies won't cut entitlements and you won't cut "defense" so we will continue down the road to bankruptcy.
Nobody is advocating ending our military dominance. Most of the money spent is about "defending" nations that are not our friends and do not enhance our security.
China? They are the ones that are financing our military with their purchases of Treasury notes. If they are our enemy why are we dependent on their money? What strategic sense does that make? What do you think will happen if they decide to dump half a trillion of our bonds on the open market in a 4 hour period? They don't even need an army with that kind of weapon. And "we" gave them this power over us. Your own politicians have put us in this position.
It's not Britain of the '30s but France that is a better analogy. They had more tanks, planes, and men than the Nazis but had been hollowed out from within and lacked the will to survive as a nation.
We are not "cheering" anything, bud. We are trying to prevent what you dread. It is not a world war 4 you should prepare for but economic Armageddon brought to you by your very own "leaders" and the bankers that own them.
J Howard Harding| 10.19.10 @ 10:47PM
It is, to the best of my knowledge, impossible to document the charge "... the majority of [Amtrak]trains remain fairly empty". Any who believe this idea are free to either document the charge or recind it.
Callawyn| 10.20.10 @ 9:35AM
Good start, tip of the iceberg of course. Definitely appreciate having 1) Repeal Obamacare. If that doesn't happen, nothing else will matter.
If you really want to put this country back on track, however, you must make public employee unions illegal, as they were up until the Kennedy administration. These unions are the root of all evil, bankrupting every government that is beholden to them.
Also, here's an 'easy' one to add to your list: privatize the Student Loan industry again, completely. The federal government should have no involvement whatsoever in the student loan industry. While your at it, eliminate Pell Grants. The principle reason college tuition keeps going up is because of federal subsidies. There is abundantant evidence showing that for every $1 of federal subsidy to pay for tuitions, tuitions nationally increase by, guess what: $1. So, Pell Grants make college more expensive for everyone while giving subsidies to only some. Great plan.
JTSinPHL| 10.20.10 @ 11:28AM
Are the projected savings, annual recurring savings, one time savings or a mix of both?
What per cent of the current annual deficit are the proposed cuts annual savings?
Why was there no mention of cutting Medicare costs? ... cutting Social Security costs?
Steve| 10.20.10 @ 7:16PM
Shut down all the overseas bases and end the wars immediately, over a trillion saved.
That is the 1st and MOST important thing that needs to be done.
Joe Trowl| 11.2.10 @ 1:22AM
Its good to know we still have so many opinionated people in the country. What would we argue about if the government was spending wisely? ... maybe we'd have to resort to going out and getting girlfriends and wives. What a horrible world that would be.