Trimming obese government: Department of Government Efficiency could be the answer

OPINION:

Fifty years ago, when Ron Paul, father of Sen. Rand Paul, was running for Congress from Texas, a billboard featured an obese Uncle Sam with the caption “Let’s put big government on a diet.”

Since then, the federal government has grown even more obese. To address the problem seriously, President-elect Donald Trump has designated Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

The entrepreneurs will be up against a bureaucracy that has a history of protecting itself from reformers. As Ronald Reagan said: “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”

The battle can be won if Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy keep the public informed about each proposed reduction. Ridicule is one tool they might use, starting with the annual Pig Book published by Citizens Against Government Waste, which lists pork barrel spending and earmarks (something Republicans were once against) that are ripe for lambasting. Visit cagw.org and be shocked and outraged at how the government wastes our money.

Here’s just one of scores of examples: “$120,500,000 for 150 earmarks funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Operations Center Grant Program, an 84 percent increase from the $65.5 million provided for 91 earmarks in FY 2023, and a 12.3% increase from the $107.3 million provided for 92 earmarks in FY 2022.”

This was before we learned that at least one FEMA employee (since fired) instructed people helping those affected by recent hurricanes not to assist anyone with Trump yard signs.

CAGW responded to the added spending at FEMA: “Since FY 2008, legislators have added 2,143 earmarks costing taxpayers $1.8 billion for emergency operations centers. Although earmarks for emergency operations centers are often among the most numerous in the appropriations bills, the program could be eliminated in favor of competitive or merit-based awards that could allow states to prioritize critical needs in each area.”

DOGE should favor the elimination of these earmarks and scuttling the Department of Education, which educates no one. If it did, test scores and achievement levels would be far higher than the deplorable levels that find too many high school graduates are not proficient in reading and math.

Reagan tried to eliminate the Department of Education but was opposed by Congress. With a government unified under Republican control, DOGE should have an easier time if Congress will put aside self-interest.

DOGE should establish a percentage of across-the-board spending cuts. Who believes the Department of Labor will suffer if it is forced to cut its costs by a minimum of 15%?

Every government agency or program has a charter or legislative authority that created it. People who run the Cabinet departments and agencies should be brought before Congress and show evidence of how they are living up to the purposes of the charters or legislation. If their work can be done at less cost and more efficiently by the private sector, they should be eliminated. That’s the pattern most businesses follow, and it should be the pattern for the government.

When it comes to health, the United States ranks 10th in the world among the most obese nations, according to the Global Obesity Observatory. It is first in debt at $36 trillion and counting.

We can put big government on a diet if we have the will. If we don’t, we only have to look at history to see what has happened to other nations that spent themselves into oblivion.

• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).