During 52 years of Republican politics across five states, I have seen a lot. The good, the bad, the ugly. One memory from 2014 comes to mind now, as American passions are aroused for federal government cost-cutting.
It happened in Iowa when Democrat Tom Harkin had decided to retire from the United States Senate. He was deeply unpopular among Republicans for his liberal political positions and his residence outside the state.
A Republican, Joni Ernst, sought the office. She grew up on an Iowa family farm, was valedictorian of her high school class in Red Oak and graduated from Iowa State University. She was eventually elected to the Iowa Legislature.
As she ran for U.S. Senate in March of 2014, she ran a campaign ad on television. It was the greatest political advertisement I have ever seen. She said, “I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. Send me to Washington, I know how to cut pork. Washington is full of big spenders, I’ll make them squeal.”
Ernst handily won and became the first woman to represent Iowa in either house of the United States Congress.
Ten years later, we have a strong Republican mandate to cut spending in Washington. Our voters are completely fed up with the waste and fraud. So, President Trump has commissioned a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut spending. They have a deadline of July 2026, our nation’s 250th birthday.
It is being led by private sector leaders who know waste when they see it. They ask obvious questions like, “Why is there such a thing as a nonessential government employee?” or “if the government shuts down, will it stop wasting our money?”
I am cheering for DOGE. If I was 30 years younger, I would go and work as a volunteer. Let’s get on with it.
We are already hearing the squealing about how so much of government spending is “mandatory.” Folks in private business know better. They have to balance their budgets; they cannot print money like the feds. If a businessman would visit his banker and claim that some of his spending is “mandatory” and therefore cannot be cut, the banker would laugh in his face.
DOGE is looking for cost-cutting ideas. I have a few that come to mind, here is a sample.
The United States pays $18 billion per year to the United Nations, one-third of the entire U.N. budget. America pays eight times the amount China pays. We can easily cut our dues by half; let’s just round it up and save $10 billion per year for the American taxpayers.
Will the U.N. squeal? Sure, they will. Welcome to the real world, U.N.
There are 149,000 federal employees who owe $1.5 billion in unpaid income taxes. I think we should garnish their wages until these debts are paid. Will they squeal? Sure, they will. They may even quit. Oh, well. Bye.
The federal government spends $10 billion per year on maintaining, leasing and furnishing empty buildings. There are 17 out of 24 federal agencies which use less than 25% of their space. An incredible $5 billion is spent just on leases, for empty buildings.
And despite empty offices, the feds also spent $1.1 billion on high-end office commodities. For example, the CDC spent $237,960 on solar-powered picnic tables. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spent $15 million on new furniture for unoccupied offices.
The Department of Energy spent $15.5 billion to push Americans toward electric vehicles. DOE threw $10 billion more at automakers to push EV production.
The result? Ford ran a $5 billion loss in its EV division in 2024 alone; they lose $45,000 on every EV they manage to sell. The feds think that throwing taxpayer dollars at these companies will magically make us forget that Americans still prefer their trusty gas-powered vehicles.
Thank goodness we have private sector expertise populating DOGE. As they identify cost cuts, the squealing will get louder. But the American people demand reduced government spending and a balanced federal budget.
It will not be easy; it will not be pretty. But it can be done, because we are Americans and we will prevail.
Let’s get on with it.
Scott S. Kramer is former Chairman of the Kendall County Republican Party.
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