Before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their epic trip to explore the Louisiana Purchase lands in 1804, President Jefferson requested $2,500 from the United States Treasury. Back in those days, public servants respected taxpayer funds and were good stewards. When the trip ended, Lewis and Clark sold the remaining equipment and returned the funds back to the Treasury. They were faithful stewards of taxpayer funds. My, how things have changed.
The United States now has a “climate envoy” named John Kerry. He is a long time Washington insider, an establishment type. Apparently, his job is to solve global warming. He flies around the world in his private jet and lectures everyone else about the dangers of carbon emissions. He was recently asked how to achieve his goals, and he responded “money, money, money, money, money, money, money”. Of course, he’s talking about your money, not his.
As Kerry and other progressives think of more ways to separate you from your money, the national debt has soared right past $30 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office projects not a single balanced federal budget in the next 30 years! The federal government is broke.
Then came the State of the Union speech last week. It did not mention the basic responsibilities of the federal government. Nothing about protecting our borders. Nothing about defending our skies. And certainly nothing about a balanced budget. Instead, it repeated “finish the job”, with a laundry list of even more new government spending. Not mentioned was the fact that we now pay more for interest on the federal debt than on defense. Wow. The American people are desperate for reasonable, responsible people to lead our great nation.
If the feds need some help to balance the budget, I can list a few programs that should be cut from current law. Here they are.
There is $410 million for border security. Not American border security, but that of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and Oman.
There is $200 million for a gender equity and equality action fund, whatever that is.
There is $5 million to study the impact of culverts, roads, and bridges on salmon populations.
There is $3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail.
Along these lines, our Republican representative in Congress, Chip Roy, is fighting the good fight, trying to stop the spending madness. He proposed amendments to the latest spending blowout, before it passed without a single Republican vote. Each of these amendments were proposed before the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, and were rejected in the Rules Committee. Here they are.
• Cut IRS funding by $7.7 billion.
• Defund the so-called Respect for Marriage Act.
• Defund the World Health Organization.
• Defund the UN Office of Population Affairs.
• Defund the UN Population Fund.
• Defund climate envoy John Kerry.
• Defund the Department of
Defense’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office.
• Defund the Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity.
• Defund the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
• Defund “environmental justice” activities at the EPA.
These are just a few examples of wasteful federal spending. How can we get serious about stopping the government spending madness? Well, we could hire some top consultants to do a shake down of the entire budget. A group of smart, energetic private sector folks who have sharp pencils and keen insight. In 1982, President Reagan did exactly that, with the Grace Commission. It was named for J. Peter Grace, a businessman who was its chairman. President Reagan also used the term “drain the swamp”. Sound familiar?
But to cut government waste, we don’t need highly paid consultants with fancy MBA degrees.
I think of my grandmothers; they knew how to balance budgets. They ran family farms during the Great Depression. Neither of them went to high school; like most girls of that era, after eighth grade they went to work. A few years later, as farm wives, they managed the finances for large grain farms. They paid employees and all the bills. A very tough challenge during those years. And yet, they survived and prospered. Matter of fact, I never heard either of them complain.
Enough of the Washington games and empty promises. Let’s get some responsible, reasonable, real people to tame the federal spending monster. The American people are depending on it.
Scott S. Kramer is a Kendall County Republican.
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