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Consumer Affairs

Budget-Trimming Suggestions From Opposite Ends of the Spectrum

Unlikely allies identify -- and agree on -- $1 trillion in savings

09/19/2011 | By | ConsumerAffairs.com | Finance

The common conception is that the Democrats and Republicans are so far apart on just about everything that they'll never be able to find the savings necessary to get the federal budget under control.

But take away the political theater and, sometimes, reasonable people can make som reasonable recommendations.

That's what happened when the predominantly liberal U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) and the nominally conservative National Taxpayers Union (NTU) (NTU) decided to work jointly to find spending cuts that could appeal to both extremes of the political spectrum, and even those in the middle.

While the two groups have, to put it mildly, widely divergent views on many tax and fiscal issues, they have joined forces to identify federal programs that both Republican and Democratic lawmakers should recognize as wasteful and inefficient uses of taxpayer dollars.

The U.S. PIRG and NTU study identifies 54 specific cuts in federal spending, including:   

  • $214.9 billion in savings from eliminating wasteful subsidies to agribusiness and other corporations.
  • $428.8 billion in savings from ending low-priority or unnecessary military programs
  • $232.3 billion in savings from improvements to program execution and government operations.
  • $132.1 in savings from reforms to major entitlement programs


Co-author Andrew Moylan, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, added, “Though it gets drowned out by the din of Washington’s partisan rancor, there is actually a large amount of agreement between watchdog groups both right and left about where the waste is in the budget. We hope this report can aid the Super Committee in the difficult task of repairing the federal balance sheet by giving them suggestions with widespread support.”

 “In an effort to address the deficit, we too often forget to differentiate between the good and the bad; between public priorities and special interest handouts,” said co-author Dan Smith, U.S. PIRG Tax and Budget Associate. “These recommendations correct years of insider lobbying that has benefited narrow interests allowing room either for investment in valued programs or deficit reduction.”

The report updates and builds on recommendations developed last year for the President’s fiscal commission. The fiscal commission adopted 20 of 30 recommendations in the bipartisan majority report.

The organizations plan to send their findings to the Super Committee which has until Thanksgiving to propose $1.2-$1.5 trillion in deficit reduction for a vote in the full Congress.

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Jerry Butler (Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:04:13 +0000): I am waiting to see who jumps first...
Mimi Nicholas (Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:15:42 +0000): From Brussels to Washington, all Titanic fingertips are wet from meandering among icebergs. All is left is for us to discuss are the various scenarios which will lead to the final implosion. In the meantime ..."Hey, let`s print more money!" is all I`m hearing.
Phyllis Denison (Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:25:20 +0000): Anyone think Boehner and the Dems can agree on any of that - NAWWW - makes too much sense!
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