The 2010 Prime Cuts comes out at a propitious time.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its troubling budgetary outlook yesterday and President Obama is poised to make his first State of the Union Address tonight.  News reports over the last few days have predicted that the President, whose party has been dealt several recent political and policy setbacks, will use tonight’s speech to pivot toward fiscal issues.  He is expected to call for a three-year domestic, discretionary spending freeze that would save $10 to $15 billion in 2011.  It has also been reported that the President will announce a bipartisan budget task force to study the thorny fiscal issues facing the country.  At the same time, White House spokespersons have also been floating expensive spending initiatives and tax credit programs. 

“CAGW’s 2010 Prime Cuts gives the public, the President and Congress a very straightforward list of failed, duplicative, and outdated programs,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “The federal bureaucracy is a target-rich environment for any President or member of Congress truly committed to cutting wasteful spending.  What is missing is the political audacity to identify and eliminate these boondoggles using the budget process and the veto pen.”

While Prime Cuts is not the only answer, it can help reduce the $1.3 trillion deficit, the $12.2 trillion national debt, and keep more money in the hands of individuals and small businesses that can more directly address the stubborn 10 percent jobless rate.  Ignoring the recommendations will exacerbate the massive growth in government that has been cause by bailouts for banks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the auto companies, along with the failed stimulus package, Cash for Clunkers, and Cash for Caulkers, all of which have failed to jumpstart the economy.

“Taxpayers now recognize that President Obama and his congressional allies will say anything to sound fiscally rational, but their actions tell a different story.  The spendthrifts in Washington, D.C. should read and adopt every recommendation in the 2010 Prime Cuts,” Schatz concluded.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.

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