| | This is the list of cuts that John Stossel's staff put together using data from Cato and from The Heritage Foundation. If implemented, instead of a deficit, it would generate a SURPLUS of over a quarter of a trillion at the end of the next year.
As Stossel says, "They don't need to drive us deeper in debt. They choose to."
Only cowardice, dishonesty and/or the drive for more power keeps us in the red.
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Defense cut by 2/3: $475 billion (Federal Budget, pg. 58)
Medicare/Medicaid*: $441 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security Means Testing: $170 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Dept. of Education (includes Pell Grants): $106.9 billion (Cato Institute)
Social Security*: $85.7 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Transportation: $84.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Tax Amnesty: $80 billion (Rep. Jared Polis D-Co.)
Eliminate Dept. of Labor*: $78.6 billion (Department of Labor and White House)
Eliminate HUD: $60.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Agriculture*: $33 billion (Cato Institute)
Cut civilian employee compensation: $30 billion (Cato Institute)
Stop maintaining vacant federal property: $25 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Foreign Aid: $21.2 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate Dept. of Energy*: $20.8 billion (Cato Institute)
Eliminate NASA: $19.6 billion (Cato Institute)
Federal Drug War: $15 billion (White House)
Earmark moratorium: $16 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Fannie/Freddie Subsidies: $14 billion (Federal Housing Finance Agency (p. 10))
Eliminate Dept. of Commerce: $13.9 billion (Department of Commerce)
Eliminate Dept. of Interior: $12 billion (White House)
Legalize Pot, Online gambling, Immigrants: $12 billion (Rep. Jared Polis D-Co.)
Privatize Army Corps of Engineers: $10.6 billion (Cato Institute)
Cut federal employee travel budget: $10 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate National Science Foundation: $7.4 billion (National Science Foundation)
End EPA’s State and Local grants: $6.5 billion (Cato Institute)
Repeal Davis-Bacon: $6 billion (Republican Study Committee)
Privatize TSA: $5.7 billion (Federal Budget)
Cut Dept. of Justice’s State and Local grants: $5 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Privatize Post Office: $4 billion (White House)
Eliminate Small Business Administration: $1.8 billion (Small Business Administration)
Lease coastal plain of ANWR: $1.5 billion (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate Federal Flood Insurance: $1.3 billion (CBO, pg. 3)
Abolish SEC: $1.3 billion (SEC)
Eliminate Corporation for National Community Service: $1 billion (Cato Institute)
Suspend acquisition of federal office space: $1 billion (Heritage Foundation)
End subsidies for public broadcasting: $500 million (Cato Institute)
Eliminate the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp: $480 million (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate the FCC: $439 million (FCC)
Eliminate the Endowments for Arts/Humanities: $332 million (NEA/NEH)
Total Cut: $1,882,619,000,000
Current deficit: $1,645,000,000,000
Surplus Achieved: $237,619,000,000
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(Research by Maxim Lott and Charles Couger.)
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*Notes
Department of Energy is eliminated except for Nuclear arms maintenance
Department of Agriculture is eliminated, except for food programs for the needy
Department of Labor is eliminated, except for 26-week unemployment benefits
Defense budget would still be $243 billion, more than twice what the next highest country (China) spends
Medicare and Medicaid savings breakdown:
Block grant Medicaid and freeze spending (226)
Repeal 2010 healthcare law (87)
Increase Medicare premiums (39.8)
Cut non-Medicare premiums (37.7)
Cut Medicare payment error rate by 50% (28.6)
Increase Medicare deductibles (12.6)
Tort Reform (10)
Social Security savings breakdown:
Price index initial benefits** 41.1
Raise the normal retirement age** 31.4
Cut Social Security disability program by 10% 13.2
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They [politicians] don't need to drive us deeper in debt, they choose to
