House GOP Plan to cut $2.5 Trillion

[danefan]

http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-w ... nding-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.

Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.

International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.

Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.

Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.

Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.

Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.

U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.

Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.

Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.

John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.

Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.

Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.

Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.

Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.

Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.

Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.

New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.

Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.

Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.

Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.

Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.

Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.

Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.

Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.

U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.

General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.

Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.

Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.

No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.

End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.

IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.

Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.

Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.

Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.

Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.

Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.

USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.

Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.

Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.

Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.

Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.

HUD Ph.D. Program.

Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

Cool....but how can you really address a problem without cutting the Military spending?

[Wedgebuster]

http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-w ... nding-cuts

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.

Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.

International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.

Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.

Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.

Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.

Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.

U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.

Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.

Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.

John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.

Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.

Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.

Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.

Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.

Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.

Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.

New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.

Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.

Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.

Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.

Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.

Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.

Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.

Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.

U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.

General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.

Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.

Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.

No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.

End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.

IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.

Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.

Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.

Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.

Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.

Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.

USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.

Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.

Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.

Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.

Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.

HUD Ph.D. Program.

Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

Cool....but how can you really address a problem without cutting the Military spending?

Already been tried, by the Soviet Union. That worked out swell for them.

[dbackjon]

Will have to study this...

[kalm]

http://www.usnews.com/news/washington-w ... nding-cuts



Cool....but how can you really address a problem without cutting the Military spending?

Already been tried, by the Soviet Union. That worked out swell for them.

No way, once they cut taxes on the corportions and top 1% we're gonna see a huge economic stimulus.

[danefan]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

[kalm]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

Bad for the oil and auto industries.

[AshevilleApp]

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.


Damn federal employees.

[GannonFan]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

I don't think they question it, per se. I think the stumbling block has been, and will be, how do you make an "efficient" high speed rail system in this country? It sounds great, but is pretty hard to work through the details.

[Grizalltheway]

So...why didn't they do this when they actually had the numbers in Congress to accomplish it?

[CitadelGrad]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

AmTrak is efficient and high-speed?

[GannonFan]

So...why didn't they do this when they actually had the numbers in Congress to accomplish it?

New day, new people in Congress, hopefully not the same old GOP. We'll see, of course, they're going to have ample opportunity to either succeed or fail, but there's no denying there are plenty of new faces in there who weren't part of the last screw-up.

[HI54UNI]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

I have no problem with rail in heavy metropolitan areas or between relatively close metro areas like the Acela Express in the NE. But I believe Acela is the only true high speed rail in the US and I believe it is one of the only, if not the only, Amtrak route that is profitable. The other Amtrak trains run in the 70 mph range. That is not high speed. And the cross country trains are a complete waste and make no sense.

Part of our supposed stimulus bill was funding for a bunch of rail projects around the country. Iowa was scheduled to get $81 million from the feds if the taxpayers of Iowa kicked in $20 million. Our idiot ex governor was all over it but fortunately our new governor and our new Republican controlled house are saying we don't think so. The new governors in Wisconsin and Ohio are doing the same thing. In Iowa they wanted to have a route from Chicago to Iowa City and eventually on to Omaha. It was going to have to be subsidized at least $3 million a year by the taxpayers for the Chicago to Iowa CIty portion. The advocates are predicting that 246,000 people a year would ride the train. That is 674 per day. They are in dream land. You can drive from Iowa City to Chicago in a little over 3 hours, the train ride would take 5 hours. Looking at Amtrak's Quincy, Illinois to Chicago route for comparison a round trip ticket would cost $208 for a family of four. Gas for the car would probably be less than $60.

It's time to cut back and focus on things that make sense.

[danefan]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

AmTrak is efficient and high-speed?

No, buts it what we have now. If they were going to shut down Amtrak and help build someething better I would be fine with that. But when you cut Amtrak and Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants and New Starts Transit then what you're saying is not only does Amtrak suck, but we don't want to have anything better...ever.

[danefan]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

I have no problem with rail in heavy metropolitan areas or between relatively close metro areas like the Acela Express in the NE. But I believe Acela is the only true high speed rail in the US and I believe it is one of the only, if not the only, Amtrak route that is profitable. The other Amtrak trains run in the 70 mph range. That is not high speed. And the cross country trains are a complete waste and make no sense.

Part of our supposed stimulus bill was funding for a bunch of rail projects around the country. Iowa was scheduled to get $81 million from the feds if the taxpayers of Iowa kicked in $20 million. Our idiot ex governor was all over it but fortunately our new governor and our new Republican controlled house are saying we don't think so. The new governors in Wisconsin and Ohio are doing the same thing. In Iowa they wanted to have a route from Chicago to Iowa City and eventually on to Omaha. It was going to have to be subsidized at least $3 million a year by the taxpayers for the Chicago to Iowa CIty portion. The advocates are predicting that 246,000 people a year would ride the train. That is 674 per day. They are in dream land. You can drive from Iowa City to Chicago in a little over 3 hours, the train ride would take 5 hours. Looking at Amtrak's Quincy, Illinois to Chicago route for comparison a round trip ticket would cost $208 for a family of four. Gas for the car would probably be less than $60.

It's time to cut back and focus on things that make sense.

I'm a proud user of Acela. I'd never fly between DC-NY-Boston again after one trip on Acela.

Why can't that be duplicated elsewhere?

Detriot --> Chicago --> Indianapolis

Etc... Etc..

I'm not talking about cross-country trips. I'm talking regional high-speed train travel.

You really don't think people would use something like that?

San Diego to LA?

Miami to Tampa?

[Grizalltheway]

Agree with HI5. I think we'd be better off focusing on coming up with alternative jet fuels, given the size of the country and the infrastructure we already have in place.

[JMU DJ]

I'm a proud user of Acela. I'd never fly between DC-NY-Boston again after one trip on Acela.

Wish they'd had that when I rode the train between DC and Hartford, CT. Took 12 hours to get from one to the other... You could almost drive there and back in that amount of time (pending traffic).

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
stupid. stupid. stupid. Public Broadcasting is a valuable public service

Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
the National Park Service is already chronically and dangerously underfunded...

International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.
probably a reasonable cut - it's a good program, but has a lot of private support (it was much more important during The Troubles)

Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
ensuring that the poor will have even worse legal protection than they already have... this is just a dickish cut

National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
despite a few controversies, this has been a very successful program

National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
without it - we wouldn't have Ken Burns, the King Tut exhibit, or fifteen pulitzer prize winning books

Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
another middle finger to the poorest Americans (Hope VI is all about rehabbing public housing... so this also will cut construction jobs)

Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
decimate the rail system instead of improving - very shortsighted

Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
would have to see the specifics - but eliminating redundancy is a good thing on principle

U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
doesn't seem smart to gut an agency whose job it is to help us develop foreign markets for our products and improve relations with the developing world

Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
part of the Smithsonian - largely involved in studying foreign relations - not a terribly egregious cut

Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
very smart cut - reducing printing and binding and going digital seems like a no-brainer savings idea

John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
bummer for the people of the Gulf Coast - but it's a small cut in a big budget

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
a devastating cut to a grant-writing agency that encourages innovation and new ideas in revitalizing blighted and impoverished areas... this fund needs some reform and some changes - not to be slashed in to oblivion

Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
destroying our history and understanding of it...

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.
probably a good cut - video conferencing can do much of this - eliminating Congressional and agency junkets can also help

Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
the specifics of this cut are important - this could be a cut that hurts in the long run if not handled properly

Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
with apologies to small town America - this is a subsidy that needs to die - value carriers can make some of these work in the private sector - otherwise, hop in the car or go Grayhound to a bigger airport (or use Amtrak if they don't destroy that too)

Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
short-sighted cut...

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
a program that coordinates resources to small and medium sized manufacturers... talk about a short-sighted cut... these guys critical to keeping the economy moving

Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
short-sighted... we can save BILLIONS in energy costs with these grants - in addition, it stimulates private sector employment in making homes and businesses more energy efficient...

Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
this isn't a cut so much as it is a punt to the states... like they have the money to do it...

New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
another short-sighted cut to transit...

Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.
wow... i didn't know this existed... good cut.

Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
this country was built for high speed rail - stupid and short-sighted cuts

Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
ensuring more unplanned pregnancies and abortions... short-sighted, since these kids, frequently born to the poorest among us, cost billions in social services (or prisons - pick your poison)

Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
this program has worked to reduce poverty in the region dramatically - it's not an egregious cut, however

Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
another middle finger to the poor - this agency creates jobs... in places that sorely need it

Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
would have to see the specifics - but this is likely a slashing of AmeriCorps

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
ENERGY RESEARCH?!? are you fucking kidding me? not just research - but APPLIED research... finding practical solutions to one of our BIGGEST problems... wafj

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
here again - a program to end our dependence on oil - a smart investment of public dollars - the program works with big fleets like FedEx to beta test this shit...

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
appliances are the biggest energy hogs in the home - this program has been very successful in reducing energy waste

Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.
cutting aid to an important ally in an important corner of the world... dangerously short-sighted

U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
wow - this smacks of 1920's style isolationism

General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.
a middle finger by Republicans to Democrats

Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
a middle finger by Republicans to Democrats

Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
time for this to go away... good cut

No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
this certainly needs reform - could be very useful.

End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
a polite way of saying "fuck you" to prevailing wage laws

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
a polite way of saying "fuck you" to prevailing wage laws

IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
I can't see why this isn't a good idea...

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.


Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
just wow...

Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
depends on what we're selling and what it's used for...

Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.


Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.


Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.
classic GOPers...

Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
this program creates markets for American agriculture products and improves relations in developing countries...

USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.


Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
a program likely past it's useful life

Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
i don't love organics - but this seems like a short-sighted cut

Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.


Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.
making sure kids programming comes exclusively from Disney and Nickelodeon - and is devoid of any educational value whatsoever... sad.

I agree with Dane - the military budget dwarfs this... it won't hurt our national defense one bit to make the Pentagon behave more efficiently - we're not talking about cutting troop pay or levels... but there is plenty of room for cutting over there

[danefan]

I'm a proud user of Acela. I'd never fly between DC-NY-Boston again after one trip on Acela.

Wish they'd had that when I rode the train between DC and Hartford, CT. Took 12 hours to get from one to the other... You could almost drive there and back in that amount of time (pending traffic).

The business class cabin on Acela should be the model. Wifi. Drinks included. No airport security or baggage checks. Delta runs a pretty good shuttle services from Laguardia to DC and Boston, but Acela is still 1000 times better.

Anything on the regional Amtrak lines (non-Acela) sucks though.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

a high-speed rail line from Minneapolis to Chicago - via Madison and Milwaukee (and possibly Rochester, MN) would significantly reduce the need for flights between those cities - a definite good thing... Scott Walker in WI is an idiot for opposing something so beneficial to his state...

if you look at a map of the US we were a nation built for high-speed rail... LA to Vegas, LA to Phoenix, Florida to Atlanta, Chicago to St. Louis - Indy - Cleveland...

[JMU DJ]

Agree with HI5. I think we'd be better off focusing on coming up with alternative jet fuels, given the size of the country and the infrastructure we already have in place.

Eh, maybe... I don't know much about the debate, but I don't think size is a relevant argument. Yes, I know we are not China.



China High Speed Rail by 2020


Proposed plans for high speed rail between China and Europe

[89Hen]

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.

She got electric boots
A mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine, ohhh
B-b-b-Benny and the Jets

[Chemhen]

I'm a big Amtrak fan; I can't afford Acela, but the regional from New Haven to Delaware is only about 40 minutes slower than Acela, about the same time as driving, and, with tolls and gas, costs about the same if you buy your tickets early. I think high speed rail would be a good investment, but I'm not sure with the country in its current situation, now is the time to make that investment. Being a younger person, I'm very worried about the national debt, and would like to see some progress towards making it go away. With China on the rise, I think its important long term to keep the military strong; I don't think a war with China is at all likely in the next 20-30 years, but the one sure way to stay a superpower is to have a strong military, and I'm not quite ready for the American Century to be over yet.

Everyone knows what has to get done, but no one wants to do it, cause they'll get voted out because its too easy to bash. Raise taxes where and when possible to get more revnue in, and cut spending to send less revenue out. Oh, and when I say cut spending, I mean on old people. I didn't see social security or medicare on there anywhere, and those are the programs that have to get cut. Raise the retirement age 1-2 years and freeze benefits. Bam, saved $1 trillion.

One thing I'm confused on; why cut 2.5 trillion? The projected near term shortfall is 'only' (god) half a trillion, and long term 1.3 trillion. I think its an opening position, so when they compromise, it'll end up being only an increase of half a trillion in next year's budget, not a whole trillion.

[Chemhen]

Gonna post this again, since it seems like it fits the topic, and I think its interesting. You fix the budget.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010 ... aphic.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[blueballs]

One thing that really stands out to me is that the GOP sees absolutely no benefit in having an efficient high-speed rail system in this country.

If it is beneficial for our country to have a efficient (key word=efficient) high speed rail system I am sure a private entity or consortium of private entities will move toward establsihing that.

On the surface I REALLY like the list of cuts given... now if they will just ban unions in government jobs and shitcan government pensions (make them invest and save like the rest of us- I'm not against 403-b matching) they can really make some hay.

[89Hen]

I'm a big Amtrak fan; I can't afford Acela, but the regional from New Haven to Delaware is only about 40 minutes slower than Acela, about the same time as driving, and, with tolls and gas, costs about the same if you buy your tickets early.

So why would you take the train?