Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is a candidate for the GOP nomination for President of the United States. Today he realized a comprehensive plan that would thoroughly cut some of the country’s most expensive agencies and programs. Here is that plan:
I. FIVE FOR FREEDOM
Abolish the IRS, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A Cruz Administration will appoint heads of each of those agencies whose sole charge will be to wind them down and determine whether any programs need to be preserved.
- Internal Revenue Services – end the political targeting, simplify the tax code, and abolish the IRS as we know it.
- Department of Education – return education to those who know our students best: parents, teachers, local communities, and states. And block-grant education funding to the states.
- Department of Energy – cut off the Washington Cartel, stop picking winners and losers, and unleash the energy renaissance.
- Department of Commerce – close the “congressional cookie jar” and promote free-enterprise and free trade for every business.
- Department of Housing and Urban Development – offer real solutions to lift people out of hardship, rather than trapping families in a cycle of poverty, and empower Americans by promoting the dignity of work and reforming programs such as Section 8 housing.
II. TWENTY-FIVE FEDERAL “ABCs”
Empower the people by reducing the alphabet soup of Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, and other programs that prop up special interests, at the taxpayer’s expense. A Cruz Administration will identify all unnecessary programs – these 25 are merely a start:
Eliminate the following Agencies, Bureaus, Commissions, and programs:
- Appalachian Regional Commission
- Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative
- Climate Research Funding for the Office of Research and Development
- Climate Resilience Evaluation Awareness Tool
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Corporation for Travel Promotion
- Global Methane Initiative
- Green Infrastructure Program
- Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
- Legal Services Corporation
- National Endowment for the Arts
- National Endowment for the Humanities
- New Starts Transit Program
- Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund
- Presidential Election Campaign Fund
- Regulation of CO2 Emissions from Power Plants and all Sources
- Regulation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles
- Renewable Fuel Standard Federal Mandates
- Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
- Sugar Subsidies
- Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery
- UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- UN Population Fund
- USDA Catfish Inspection Program
III. GRACE COMMISSION 2.0
Re-institute President Reagan’s Grace Commission to assess federal spending levels and evaluate areas of waste and fraud.
- Appoint private-sector leaders to serve on a commission that, as President Reagan described, will work like “blood hounds” to improve government efficiency.
- Under Ronald Reagan’s Administration, the Grace Commission report recommended 2,478 “cost-cutting, revenue-enhancing” suggestions, without raising taxes, weakening defense, or harming social welfare.
- As Chairman Grace recognized then, “every dollar we can stop spending is a dollar that the government does not need to borrow.” Never has that been more needed than today.
IV. CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Hold Congress accountable by enacting a strong Balanced Budget Amendment and requiring that a majority of members approve any major, cost-inducing regulation.
- Sign a Balanced Budget Amendment to start spending responsibly and save future generations from additional crippling debt.
- Sign the REINS Act to ensure that Congress approves of any regulation or rule that would have an impact of $100 million or more.
V. HIRING FREEZE AND REDUCTION
Reduce costs by instituting a hiring freeze and federal pay reforms.
- Put in place a hiring freeze of federal civilian employees across the executive branch.
- For those agencies in which it is determined that a vacant position needs to be filled, I will authorize the hiring of a maximum ratio of one person for every three who leave.
- Reduce the annual across-the-board adjustment for federal civilian pay so that rather than receiving automatic yearly raises, federal workers would have more opportunities for merit-based pay increases.
Total Savings from these reforms: $500,000,000,000.00 over ten years.
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