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(Washington, D.C.) - Citizens Against Government
Waste (CAGW) today criticized Washington lawmakers after the
Treasury Department confirmed this week the government is running a
$66.5 billion deficit for the first seven months of fiscal
2002. This is the first budget deficit in four years, and the
figure could rise to $100 billion or more by the end of the
year.
"Both parties in Washington have been on a spending binge since
the beginning of the budget year," CAGW President Tom Schatz
said. "As always, wasteful spending and pork barrel politics
are the true culprits in the government's never-ending struggle to
stay out of the red."
CAGW estimates that by enacting the following reforms, Congress
can not only eliminate the deficit, but also transform it into a
surplus:
1) Eliminate wasteful and/or duplicate
programs. CAGW's annual publication Prime Cuts
catalogued over 543 recommendations that would save taxpayers $159
billion in fiscal 2002 (creating a surplus) and $1.27 trillion
over the next five years. Examples include reforming milk
orders (saving $669 million over five years) and eliminating the
Advanced Technology Program (saving $480 million over five years).
The programs featured in Prime Cuts serve concentrated interests at
the expense of the general population and are full of abuse, fraud,
and mismanagement.
2) Cut the pork. Pork-barrel
giveaways surpassed $20 billion this year, including $2 million to
refurbish the Vulcan Statue in Birmingham, Ala; $190,000 for the
Motor Racing Museum of the South; and $273,000 for educational
training in combating "Goth" culture in Blue Springs, Missouri.
3) Eliminate corporate welfare.
President Bush recently signed a $190 billion farm bill that
increases farm subsides by 65 percent over the next ten years.
Most of this goes to established agribusinesses, not to family
farms. Cutting all programs such as the steel industry
subsidies, the Economic Development Administration, and the
Export-Import Bank would save taxpayers about $80 billion
annually.
4) End improper payments. The
government annually writes at least $20 billion in checks to the
deceased or imprisoned, and provides benefits for others who game
and cheat the system. For example, Medicare lost about $12
billion this way last year. Worse, there are few mechanisms
for recouping lost funds, even though private companies exist that
would do it for a fraction of the returned revenue.
"As you can see, there is plenty lawmakers can do to reverse the
rising deficit," concluded Schatz. "Instead of punishing
average citizens by raising taxes or adding to the national debt,
politicians should give up their addiction to frivolous spending and
political favoritism."
Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste,
fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
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