Chop Chop

Four days after the fact, I am still trying to get my head around the paltry $38.5 billion in cuts that have been hailed as a victory. It has been long been a principle of mine that whole departments , agencies and bureaus must be eliminated for any serious attempt for fiscal responsibility to be achieved. Thomas Crown is a frequent contributor to www.redstate.com and penned an enlightening piece. I’ve included it below with some edits for brevity’s sake.

http://www.redstate.com/audax/2011/04/10/republic-began-with-four-federal-departments-our-opening-negotiating-position-for-next-budget-cuts/

Our Federal Republic began with just four Federal Departments. Anything else was left to the individual States to worry about. The Four Departments and their Secretaries where:

State, Thomas Jefferson, Secretary
Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, Secretary
War, Henry Knox, Secretary
Post Office, Benjamin Franklin, Post Master General (responsible for Transportation, i,e, Post Roads)

That’s IT! That’s all we need, except for the Post Office! We don’t need that anymore, private enterprise can do it better and cheaper!

So, here is where we can begin budget cutting up to $1.866 Trillion in the next Federal Budget. These numbers from the 2010 Federal Budget.

$78.7 billion (?1.7%) – Department of Health and Human Services. This should go back to the individual States where it belongs. Where is this in the Constitution?

$72.5 billion (+2.8%) – Department of Transportation. This was in the Post Office Department i.e. Post Roads in the First Federal Government but as our Republic has evolved should now be the provenance of the individual States.

$47.5 billion (+18.5%) – Department of Housing and Urban Development. Where is this in the Constitution?

$46.7 billion (+12.8%) – Department of Education. This should go back to the individual States where it belongs. Where is this in the Constitution?

$42.7 billion (+1.2%) – Department of Homeland Security. If there was EVER a waste of funds, this is it! Important parts to the Department of Justice (i.e. The FBI) or Department of Defense.

$26.3 billion (?0.4%) – Department of Energy. Where is this in the Constitution?  Nuclear stuff to department of Defense.

$26.0 billion (+8.8%) – Department of Agriculture. Where is this in the Constitution? If individual States feel they must “help” their farmers, then let them.

$18.7 billion (+5.1%) – National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Where is this in the Constitution?  Let private enterprise explore space if they feel there is a profit motive in it.

$13.8 billion (+48.4%) – Department of Commerce. Where is this in the Constitution? Let State Department handle any “important” areas that need to be covered.

$13.3 billion (+4.7%) – Department of Labor. Where is this in the Constitution?

$12.0 billion (+6.2%) – Department of the Interior. Where is this in the Constitution? SELL OFF Federal lands or give to individual States.

$10.5 billion (+34.6%) – Environmental Protection Agency. Where is this in the Constitution? Let individual States handle how they keep their State clean.

$7.0 billion (+1.4%) – National Science Foundation. Where is this in the Constitution?

$5.1 billion (?3.8%) – Corps of Engineers. Where is this in the Constitution? Transfer back to Military, the Military functions, then let individual States handle anything else.

$5.0 billion (+100%) – National Infrastructure Bank. Where is this in the Constitution?

$1.1 billion (+22.2%) – Corporation for National and Community Service. Where is this in the Constitution?

$0.7 billion (0.0%) – Small Business Administration. Where is this in the Constitution?

$19.8 billion (+3.7%) – Other Agencies. WHAT IS THIS???

$105 billion – Other. WHAT IS THIS???

$571 billion (?15.2%) – Other mandatory programs. Are these in the Constitution? If not, CUT!CUT! CUT! Individual States can decide what is best for the taxpayers of that State.

$453 billion (+6.6%) – Medicare. Where is this in the Constitution? Individual States can decide what is best for the taxpayers of that State.

$290 billion (+12.0%) – Medicaid . Where is this in the Constitution? Individual States can decide what is best for the taxpayers of that State.

Once we turn these programs over to the individual States and get the Federal Government OUT of areas they have no Constitutional business being in, then we can “negotiate” from there.                                     

                                          ---End of Crown material---

The bottom line is if Congress (particularly the GOP) is truly committed to Constitutional government and a fiscally responsible budget, they could do it NOW. We do not need a “glide path” towards insolvency. That merely postpones the collapse. They aren’t serious. We know the Democrats are not serious, and we should know that the GOP isn’t serious either. These are people who want to be Congressmen and women. They are not people who want to unplug a stopped-up toilet. We need people who will roll up their sleeves and tackle the dirty jobs. Apparently they are not in Washington, and the national fiscal sewer is backing up more every hour of every day.

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