4 things DOGE should focus on to cut down government waste

Jan 17, 2025 by AFP

With President Donald Trump’s inauguration right around the corner, America has a historic opportunity to tackle the big problems keeping our economy back and pass policies that will build American prosperity for decades to come.

And there’s one specific issue that the incoming Administration has vowed to deal with head-on: eliminating government waste.

Today, the national debt stands at more than $36 trillion, and it’s forecasted to rise to almost 180% of GDP in 2053. If we don’t get government spending under control, Americans will be saddled with higher taxes or higher prices to pay for this out-of-control spending frenzy.

That’s why Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency sounds like a promising idea. Getting some attention on cutting government waste is always welcome.

However, stopping reckless government spending is no easy task, and the DOGE will need all the help it can get to get the government books back in order.

At Americans for Prosperity, we want to offer a little help. After all, we’ve been fighting to cut down government waste for over 20 years, so we know a thing or two about how our reckless federal budget works.

Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy, here are four things the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can recommend to Congress to eliminate government waste.

1. Get rid of progressive waste and cronyism.

The last four years have been a textbook example of corporate cronyism run amok.

The Biden administration has bankrolled failing companies, propped up the bottom lines of corporate cronies, and paid for a laundry list of highly ideological programs with little to no practical benefit for the general public while saddling Americans with even more debt.

Here are just some of the programs Washington funded that DOGE can recommend getting rid of:

  • Since 2021, the government has spent more than $215 billion on corporate handouts to get the private sector on board with its Green New Deal agenda.
  • In 2023, the government announced $2 billion to finance “climate justice” programs across the country. Little was said, however, on what climate justice means and how spending that much money would improve the life of the average American.
  • Over $200 million in handouts to big players in the entertainment industry (like Lil Wayne or Post Malone) as part of a government program created to help “small” business owners hit by the pandemic.
  • Washington will hand about $8 billion to Intel to restart its chip program. It’s unclear why the government is giving so much money to a company that just announced its biggest quarterly loss in over five decades.

Ending this type of senseless government waste is a great start, but it’s not the only place where DOGE can sink its teeth in.

2. Cut red tape in health care.

We can’t talk about making government more efficient unless we do something about the costly American health care system.

After all, the federal government spends almost 24% of the budget on health care, much more than it does on defense.

Thankfully, AFP has three good ideas to streamline our health care system and make it more affordable:

  • Expand access to health savings accounts (HSAs) for all Americans.
  • Make Direct Primary Care (DPC) more available by making it tax-deductible.
  • During the pandemic, Washington made it easier for Americans to access telehealth care. It’s time to make that permanent.

To reduce government spending, we need to get health care costs under control, and the best way to do that is by giving Americans more choices over their health care.

3. Put an end to rampant fraud.

Washington not only wastes your tax dollars on corporate welfare and ideological spending sprees, but it also does a terrible job keeping it away from scammers and fraudsters.

In fact, according to the Government Accountability Office, the federal government loses between $233 and $521 billion each year to fraud.

If the first number is correct, that would mean fraud costs more than the combined budgets of the departments of State and Justice.

And that’s the best-case scenario. The reality is probably much worse than that.

It’s time for the government to end the rampant theft of hard-earned taxpayer money.

4. Upgrade the budget process.

Managing the budget is Congress’ most important duty, yet you’d be surprised to know that Congress doesn’t regularly review almost 75% of federal spending or any policy to raise revenue.

The budget process results from a messy patchwork of arcane procedures and processes that make it almost impossible for lawmakers to properly debate America’s fiscal priorities.

Moreover, as President Biden’s unconstitutional student loan forgiveness scheme showed us, presidents are leveraging Congress’ dysfunction to try to usurp their constitutional powers and get enough money to enact their policies without legislative approval.

Congress’ dysfunction and an overreaching executive will guarantee decades more reckless government spending, little fiscal responsibility, and an even more bloated bureaucracy.

The good news? Congress can fix this.

By passing the Comprehensive Congressional Budget Act, Congress would put a complete budget bill with all spending and revenue to a vote on the floor each year. This simple measure would give members of Congress the tools to make the hard political choices we need to put the government’s finances back in order.

There are many more policies DOGE can look at to get government spending under control, but these four ideas are a good starting point in the fight to stop Washington’s spending extravaganza.

If you want to join the fight to end reckless government spending and build a prosperous economy for millions of Americans, click here to see how you can help.

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