We often talk about how regaining control of the nation’s finances will take difficult decisions and shared sacrifice, and it certainly will. But there are also ways we can work toward a firm fiscal foundation that are relatively easy, common sense fixes. While these aren’t cure-all solutions, they’re small steps toward putting Washington in a mindset of responsible spending.
Today, U.S. News and World Report outlines eight such ideas:
Halting printing of the Federal Register, “a daily publication of federal government notices, rules, and proposed rules,” would save $4 million. The Federal Register is fully accessible online.
Halting printing of the Congressional Record, “the publication that lists every word uttered in congressional sessions,” would save $8 million. Like the Federal Register, the information found in the Congressional Record is available online.
Eliminating niche agriculture programs like promoting shrubbery awareness, partnering with the Midwest Pickle Association to determine when in the pickling process to add calcium, and promoting locally-grown landscape plants in Arizona, could save the government up to $55 million.
Eliminating the Saturday delivery by the U.S. Postal Service could save up to $3.1 billion. This would significantly ease serious cash flow problems the service has experienced having “lost $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010 and $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2011.”
Phasing out a program that was “conceived as a way to provide air transportation services to communities far from major airport hubs” would save $195 million. Often communities serviced by the program aren’t prohibitively far from major airports.
Replacing the $1 bill with $1 coins “would save $5.5 billion over the next 30 years, or around $184 million annually.” As the lifespan of bills is much shorter than coins, fewer coins than bills would be required to be manufactured.
In an example U.S. News appropriately calls ironic, the U.S. Department of Energy could save $2.2 million by installing more efficient lighting systems.
Lastly, the government could save $350,000 by sending empty boxes by ground transport rather than Fed-Ex’s next-day service. “According to a Government Accountability Office report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service sends its lab samples via Federal Express’ next-day service. The empty sample containers are then Fed-Exed back, once again with next-day service, which costs roughly $15 round-trip.”
The government has spent far beyond its means for decades. It will certainly take time and difficult decisions to completely reverse this trend. But as U.S. News displays, we can easily and immediately take some small steps in the right direction.
I LIKE IT!! I , as a tax payer, Say LET’s DO IT!!!!
They certainly sound reasonable to me; getting rid of the ones listed wouldn’t hurt anyone except the ones collecting the bogus bucks. And if you looked further you would probably find a lot more wasteful activities going on not only in WDC but at every gov’t facility across this nation and abroad. Every “State” has the same problem. But I doubt there is anyone out there that will step up to the plate or take the bull by the horns and make it happen…God Bless America!
When U.S. News and World Report begin to state the case for cutting government spending then we know we have turned a corner. Indeed, it is right to put the brakes on Congress and call for a halt to the spree they have carried out.