Trump Begins to Slash Government Leviathan

President Trump released a proposed budget on Thursday with increases in defense spending and large cuts to numerous domestic agencies and programs. According to CNN, the budget slashes:

… non-defense spending at the State Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and [includes] the wholesale elimination of other federal programs.

This is fantastic news.

Here are the department cuts proposed by Trump:

• Health and Human Services, the department responsible for implementing Obamacare and its proposed repeal, would face a $12.6 billion cut — a 16.2% decrease

• Environmental Protection Agency: $2.6 billion, or 31.4%

• State Department: $11 billion, or 28.7%

• Labor Department: $2.5 billion, or 20.7%

• Agriculture Department: $5 billion, or 20.7%

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: $1 billion, a 16.3% cut

• Cuts National Institutes of Health spending by $5.8 billion, a nearly 20% cut. Also overhauls NIH to focus on “highest priority” efforts and eliminates the Fogarty International Center.

• Other double-digit cuts include Commerce at 15.7%; Education at 13.5%; Housing and Urban Development at 13.2%; Transportation at 12.7%; and Interior at 11.7%.

Here are the proposed program cuts:

• Eliminates the USDA Water and Wastewater loan and grant program, a reduction of $498 million

• Cuts $250 million by zeroing out National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants and programs that support coastal and marine management, research and education

• Reduces or eliminates 20 programs within the Department of Education, including Striving Readers, Teacher Quality Partnership and Impact Aid support payments for federal property and international education programs

• Cuts FEMA state and local grant funding by $667 million, including the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program and Homeland Security Grant Program

• Eliminates funds for Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing

• Ceases payments to the United Nations’ climate change programs for the Green Climate Fund and precursor funds

• Scales back funding for the World Bank and other international development banks by $650 million over three years

• Cuts federal subsidies to Amtrak and eliminates support for Amtrak’s long-distance services.

• Cuts funding to the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Program so new projects will not be funded

• Shrinks the Treasury workforce by an unspecified amount

• Stops funding for the Clean Power Plan

And it gets better.

Here is a list of programs that will be eliminated or “zeroed out”:

• The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which supports before- and after-school programs and summer programs

• Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, which funds research including clean energy

• African Development Foundation

• Appalachian Regional Commission

• Chemical Safety Board

• Community Development Block Grant, which in part funds Meals on Wheels

• Community Development Financial Institutions Fund grants, under Treasury

• Community Services Block Grant, under HHS

• Corporation for National and Community Service

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting

• Delta Regional Authority

• Denali Commission

• Economic Development Administration

• Essential Air Service program

• Global Climate Change Initiative

• Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Chesapeake Bay funding, and other regional programs under EPA.

• HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Choice Neighborhoods, and the Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program, all under HUD

• Institute of Museum and Library Services

• Inter-American Foundation

• US Trade and Development Agency

• Legal Services Corporation

• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

• McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program

• Minority Business Development Agency, under Commerce

• National Endowment for the Arts

• National Endowment for the Humanities

• NASA’s Office of Education

• Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

• Northern Border Regional Commission

• Overseas Private Investment Corporation

• State Energy Program

• Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program, the second-largest program feds have used to influence local education

• TIGER transportation grants

• United States Institute of Peace

• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness

• Weatherization Assistance Program

• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

This is an impressive amount of cuts, and is illustrative of the monstrous size of government funded by the taxpayer. Government has no money beyond what it extracts from citizens — so scratch your head, and wonder how the government administrative complex managed to expand to the extent it has while your household budget stays pretty much constant. This is how $20 trillion in debt happens.

One thing is certain: the Democrats and big-government Republicans will not like this proposal. It will undoubtedly undergo changes when it gets to Congress. Let them know it is time for the taxpayer to stop subsidizing programs that are actually left-wing causes masquerading as the public interest. The Democrats and progressives are funded by numerous deep pockets — let them put their money where their mouths are. They can fund their own pet causes, like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or their obsessive research on climate change.

The winner of these proposed cuts is the taxpayer. Lighten their burden, and they will have more income to donate to the cause of their choice. Even if it’s PBS, or all this research that seems to provide zero deliverables for its patrons: the middle class and working families.