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Bureaucracy is one of the major problems with Washington, D.C. Unelected government employees are being allowed to make decisions that affect our day to day lives. This is the definition of bureaucracy.
Over the past two years, Republicans, who have held a majority in both chambers of Congress, have done little if anything to reduce the government’s reckless spending. Washington is drunk on money, our money. Daniel Horowitz at Conservative Review recently noted that Congress continually authorizes money to the executive branch beyond what the executive branch needs to operate. For example, the Trump administration requests a certain amount of money per department, then it is up to Congress to authorize the money. Giving an agency more money than it needs creates an environment for wasteful spending to occur. This makes Republicans in Congress complicit in wasteful spending.
In 2013, the Washington Post published an extensive article about what is called “use it or lose it” season in Washington. This is the time of year when government agencies rush to spend what money is remaining in their accounts. Why does this occur? According to the Washington Post, “The reason for their haste is a system set up by Congress that, in many cases, requires agencies to spend all their allotted funds by Sept. 30. If they don’t, the money becomes worthless to them on Oct. 1. And — even worse — if they fail to spend the money now, Congress could dock their funding in future years. The incentive, as always, is to spend.”
The result? Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on wasteful projects. For example, the WP article notes that in the final days of the fiscal calendar, “the Department of Veterans Affairs bought $562,000 worth of artwork. In a single day, the Agriculture Department spent $144,000 on toner cartridges. And, in a single purchase, the Coast Guard spent $178,000 on ‘Cubicle Furniture Rehab.’” This is no joke.
If Congress continues to spend money recklessly, then it is up to the executive branch i.e. the Trump administration to fix this. What can President Trump do to put a stop to this wasteful spending? The president can issue an executive order instructing each federal agency to put an end to the “use it or lose it” practice and other wasteful practices. A similar executive order has already been issued in 2017. The problem? The existing order lays the groundwork for cost savings across the federal government but it doesn’t put an enforceable plan into action. The president must issue a new executive order which would create penalties should agencies not comply.
Here is what the new executive order should look like for beginners:
What will be the end result of such an executive order? It will force agencies to run a tight ship from a financial position. It will also save the U.S. billions of dollars in wasteful spending each year. Lastly, such a move by President Trump would prove to the American people, leading into the 2020 election, that his administration is serious about cutting government waste.
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