Budget Cuts

I support the elimination of every department whose duties and scope of influence can be transferred to the state level or even more locally. The Department of Education is a meddlesome old maid, sticking a nose where it doesn't belong and insisting that other people's children learn what she thinks is important. Dump the Department of Energy, dump foreign aid to any country that does not ally itself with us or show the slightest hope of being influenced by us to civilize itself and grant basic human rights to its citizens. No bailouts, no Fannie or Freddie... well, the list goes on and on. It's too late to return to a strictly Constitutional government, that is, one that exerts influence over only those things the Constitution says it may, but we can certainly trim a lot of the worst offenders.

This the first time I've seen three organizations (the Bureau of Reclamation, the USGS and Corps of Engineers) put up for cuts, which I believe should have happened over 30 years ago, when I worked for the CoE. I'd never seen such fighting/turf wars amongst organizations, duplication, etc. as I saw with these three. I left the CoE after only a year and a half and have argued for cuts to the CoE and Interior/total elimination of BOR since. I like the 70-100% cuts to Department of Energy, which has done nothing, in my opinion, to move us forward to self-sufficiency; HUD; Education, etc. I would put a stop on all new construction until a thorough review had been performed. If renovating existing facilities, moving to existing federal facilities, etc. won't cut it, then maybe. I might have gone deeper on some programs than Rand suggests (like TSA). BUT, we're still going to have to look at social security, Medicare, Medicaid... I think we know what to do... Our politicians just have to get the ***** to do it. We can make these changes over time and those necessary changes will go a long ways to keeping the programs solvent.

Your question is based on a false premise -- just because Rand Paul is willing to cut something from the budget doesn't make it waste.