Phillips' Bold Plan to Cut Waste and Create Jobs: The Path to American Recovery

As I travel across our district talking to concerned citizens from all walks of life, I've heard the questions which many have rightly asked. "So, George, you say you have a bold plan to put our nation's fiscal house in order and create jobs. Everybody wants to do that, but what are the details?"  It's a fair question which deserves an answer, so here it is.

Federal spending, in the form of a $3.8 trillion budget, annual deficits approaching $2 trillion and a $12 trillion national debt are simply out of control. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted in Washington. This money can be saved and returned to the American people. I have a bold plan which will get us back on track, put our fiscal house in order, foster job growth and make the government more accountable to the people it serves. This plan has five primary components which I shall explain in detail below.

1. A Reagan-Style Commission to Reduce Waste
2. Consolidate and Eliminate Federal Agencies
3. Across the Board Reductions - With Clear Exceptions
4. Eliminate Unused and Underused Federal Assets
5. Across the Board Tax Cuts for Individual Americans and Business

Continually Monitor, Identify and Eliminate Waste and Abuse

I have spoken in the past of the need for a new version of the 1980's Reagan era Grace commission which identified up to one third of federal spending as wasteful and inefficient. Such spending could be cut while still protecting crucial benefits such as Social Security and Medicare. But today's challenges require a fresh approach. We need a permanent commission composed of business leaders, experts and activists to act as watchdogs for the taxpayer. This is very different from President Obama's proposal to have a panel tasked with balancing the budget. That would be little more than a fig leaf to provide cover for raising our taxes. We already have a group tasked with balancing the budget and it's called the United States Congress.

The commission I envision would only focus on identifying opportunities to consolidate redundant government functions and reduce wasteful spending. They should be empowered to not only monitor spending, but to receive reports and complaints regarding waste, fraud and abuse and to investigate them. This body should routinely report to Congress and the White House with their findings and initiate proceedings to eliminate these losses wherever they are found. What a refreshing change it would be to have a group of governmental officials who routinely deliver plans to save money rather than spending it!

Consolidate and Eliminate Federal Agencies

My plan calls for consolidating 10 of the Executive Branch agencies into 3.  The Departments of Agriculture, Energy, the Interior and Transportation would operate under one umbrella as the Department of Land and Resources. Education, HUD, Health and Human Services would operate under a single Department of Health and Social Development. Treasury, Commerce and Labor would work together in a Department of Finance and Workforce. The Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, Justice and State would remain in place, reducing the total number of agencies from 15 to 8.

In addition, the OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool lists more than 200 government programs which are either inadequate or completely ineffective. They exist in virtually every department of the federal government and bleed huge amounts of taxpayer money out of the system while delivering little or nothing of value in return. The OMB also reports that the government consistently overpays numerous programs through a combination of inefficiency, waste or outright fraud. These overpayments happen in virtually every aspect of the government, including medicare, tax credits, Dept. Of Agriculture subsidy programs, HUD public housing and rental costs and a laundry list of other abuses. The information is already out there if Congress would only be willing to go after these losses.

Across the Board Reductions --- with Clear Exceptions

President Obama's 2010 Budget increased discretionary spending 13% --- including a 48% increase for the Department of Commerce.  He spent nearly $800 billion on the stimulus and a trillion on the bank and auto bailouts. While the proposed 2011 Budget has some reductions, they simply aren't enough. Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Benefits and programs related to national security should clearly be off the table in terms of cuts, but all other programs need more thorough examination in our budget process.  Programs that are not essential for the American public need to be reduced.

Eliminate Unused and Underused Federal Assets

The federal government currently holds more than $1.2 trillion in real property assets according to the Federal Real Property Profile created by the Bush administration. These holdings include more than 21,800 abandoned properties, as per the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). I'm not talking about our national parks or the vast tracks of unspoiled wilderness of which we are rightly proud and must be preserved. I'm speaking of broken down, abandoned facilities such as Chicago's Old Main Post Office, vacant since 1997 and costing us $2 million annually to maintain. There are also numerous tracks of abandoned military housing, empty office buildings and vacant lots. These assets need to be sold off, removed from the government's debit column and put back into the public market. While it is true that such sales would only generate fifteen or twenty billion dollars in revenue, I'm not proposing that we solve all of our fiscal woes with some sort of beltway rummage sale. The real gold mine here is to eliminate the huge annual cost in maintaining these facilities, as well as the potential windfall from getting some of these properties back on the public tax rolls.

Revamp and Streamline Federal Tax Policy

Our plan, as outlined above, could free up more than $2 trillion. A large portion of this needs to be returned to the American people in the form of tax relief.