On Wednesday, the House voted 211-207 to reject a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 139) that would have proposed an amendment to the US Constitution requiring a balanced federal budget. The measure has repeatedly fallen short of the two-thirds vote needed to advance the bill.
It was introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ.) and would prohibit total federal expenditures in a year from exceeding the average annual federal receipts collected in the prior three years, adjusted for changes in the population of US citizens and inflation. Any bill establishing a new tax or increasing an existing tax rate would also require a two-thirds roll-call vote in each chamber.
This latest defeat of the amendment brought up a decades old concept: that America should live within its means. Our Congress obviously thinks that doing so is a bad idea.
Here’s a list of my least favorite ways that our Government wastes our hard-earned tax dollars…
8 – In 1935, the Natural Resource Conservation Service was set up to help farmers minimize soil erosion. Today, this 12,000-person agency has 2,500 field offices and costs taxpayers a cool $800 million per year.
Yet the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) has found zero difference in soil erosion between areas that participate in the program and those that don’t. If Congress cut this program it would save taxpayers $3.5 billion over five years.
7 – The Rural Electrification Administration (REA), also created in 1935, was supposed to help bring electricity to rural areas. In 1949, it expanded to include telephone service.
Last time I checked, just about everyone in America had electricity and telephones. Think it might be time to get rid of this one? Five-year savings: $1.8 billion.
6 – The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was established in 1879 to catalog the geology and mineral resources of the United States. Mission accomplished!
Yet the USGS still gets $739 million taxpayer dollars per year. Five-year savings: $3.4 billion.
5 – The Rural Housing Development Service (RHDS) provided housing loans to rural residents during the Great Depression. Lawmakers who open their history books will find an amazing fact: The Depression is over!
Private lenders now serve rural residents well. Yet the RHDS still lends more than $1 billion each year, with one of the highest default rates of any government program. Eliminating it would save taxpayers $2 billion over five years.
4 – The Public Health Service Commission Corps was created in the late 1800s to provide health care to merchant seamen. Its members still have military ranks, are paid according to Pentagon pay scales, and are eligible for retirement pensions after 20 years.
Yet they haven’t been part of the military since 1952!
They do practically nothing in their official capacity, and their leadership lobbied Congress to avoid service in the Gulf War. Decommissioning the corps would save taxpayers $625 million over five years.
3 – The Depression-era Davis-Bacon Act requires companies contracting with the federal government to pay “prevailing wages”, meaning union-scale, to their workers. Meant to protect unionized contractors from lower-cost competitors, the Act’s ulterior motive was to discriminate against contractors using non-union workers.
Ending this competition-stifling measure would save taxpayers nearly $9 billion over five years.
2 – The Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) was established in 1962 to decrease the number of nuclear weapons the United States and the Soviet Union were aiming at each other. Hmmm, let’s see: Deployed strategic nuclear warheads on both sides increased from a few hundred to more than 10,000 between 1962 to 1990.
The only thing ACDA did successfully was negotiate the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, which keeps America from defending itself against missile attack. The Cold War is over, folks. Five-year savings: $42 million.
1 – And the No. 1 federal boondoggle lawmakers could eliminate tomorrow without hurting anyone at all: The Economic Development Administration (EDA), which duplicates the activities of at least 62 other community development programs. The EDA will spend $350 million this year to spur local economic growth.
Yet a recent GAO study found the EDA had no impact at all. Zippo. Five-year savings: $933 million.
Let me leave you with this…
That’s our tax dollars at work. God Bless America.
It’s beyond imagination why our government isn’t held to the same standards we are. If we ran our businesses the way our fiscal purse is managed, we’d be out of business within a couple of years.
If you’ve ever had a conversation with a politician about cutting spending, they usually look at you like you’re trying to steal milk from their children. I’ve never understood the logic and complete lack of reason which is obviously prevalent.
Yet here we are. At least our Federal taxes went down this year, for a change.
As always, if you’re having any difficulties with your accounting and tax work, let us know. I’m waiting for your call.
We’re all going to get through this. Let’s get through it together.
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President
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