My Political Platform

Cut Federal Spending

This is what I want Congress, the House and the Senate, and the Executive Branch to do regarding the size and scope of federal government. If I were to run for President this would be my platform and if elected this is what I would use my power and influence to accomplish. In some cases I specifically name Departments and programs I would try to cut significantly and the ones I would try to eliminate quickly.

First, the General Platform:

1. Stop deficit spending immediately. Cut all Federal spending by 10% from last year’s authorization.

Limit all Federal budgets to 90% of previous years experience rate, as quickly as possible, cut all programs, cut all planned acquisitions and stop all construction not already underway.

Immediately direct all budget surpluses to retire national debt and restore all contingency funds.

Immediately form a working group to review all off-budget entitlements for reforms that reduce costs by any means. The goal; limit benefit costs to expected revenue, not increase taxes to fund run away benefits. All spending is discretionary.

2. Pay off the National Debt in 4 years.

Eliminate all unjustified programs and projects, including all archaic, bureaus and commissions.

Cut all research by 10%, cut all scientific study by 10%, cut all government travel by 10%, cut all funding for government conferences and conventions by 50%.

Accumulate contingency funds and protect them from erosion from legislation, policy or politics.

3. Stop all foreign aid using American taxpayer money immediately, and direct the saved money to pay down the national debt and lower all Federal taxes. When disasters occur around the world, ask the American people if they want to donate to a disaster fund allowing each citizen to decide if it's a worthy cause; borrowed from Bill Cosby.

4. Do much more to prevent unlawful immigration. Significantly improve border, coast and port surveillance for human smuggling and illegal incursions. Immediately begin searching for and finding illegal immigrants. Begin deporting those determined to be illegal immigrants using travel and transport contractors. Allow legal children to remain in the US in the custody of legal relatives, in an institution, or return with a parent to their country of origin until the child can legally chose national citizenship.

5. Limit Senate and House sessions to 6 weeks in mid-summer, except for declared National Emergencies. The remainder of the year they should have real full-time jobs. Reduce their benefits, staff, privileges and pay. Eliminate their special insurances. Prohibit them from having any benefits, paid for by tax money, not also available to any taxpayer.

All new laws will be vetoed if;

A. they do not list at least two existing outdated laws that are being simultaneously cancelled;

B. they contain exceptions to this law or any Federal laws;

C. they do not show conclusively a source of available funding which could not otherwise be used to retire debt or offset any Federal taxes (i.e. income, excise, fuel, etc.) or fees.

6. All Departments and programs not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, or its subsequent lawful amendments, or decreed specifically by Federal Appellate Courts or the Supreme Court; will be cancelled, disband, closed and their facilities, equipment and property used by a lawful department or program, or sold at public auction within one year with all proceeds retiring Federal debt or reducing all Federal taxes.

7. All Federal tax exempt organization, activities, clubs, associations, education institutions, advocacy groups, religions, churches, schools, or individuals will be reviewed and required to prove which funds and activities are eligible for tax exemption. All activities and funds found not eligible for exemption will be immediately taxed. Taxes due will be immediately payable, and all previous years of suspected Federal Tax fraud are subject to audit and payment or attachment, regardless the statute of limitations.

8. A moratorium on the creation of any new national parks or protected lands or protected species of any kind until all surplus Federal lands, or any Federal lands combined exceeding 15% by area of any state, are sold to taxpaying individuals at an otherwise unrestricted public Internet auction. Use the revenue to immediately pay down the “National Debt” only.

9. 'Press 1 for English' is immediately banned. English is the official language; speak it or wait at the border until you can; borrowed from Bill Cosby.

10. Use the Internal Revenue “Collection” Service to collect taxes only. Stop using it to redistribute wealth, grant favors to rich donors, or failing businesses.

Greatly simplify individual, business, and corporate income tax calculation and remittance. Seriously consider eliminating Income Taxes, replacing some of the lost revenue by a low national sales tax with no exemptions, and the rest by spending cuts. Severely limit tax exemptions. Greatly reduce the number and then restrict allowable amount of individual and business deductions, for instance, restrict the home interest deduction to the average interest on the national mean priced home regardless of purchase price; no regional variations.

Stop taxing business processes and activities. It just artificially increases the price of goods and services and costs potential employees jobs.

Stop taxing the transfer of wealth to rightful heirs. The deceased have all ready paid enormous taxes while they lived.

11. Tax all political contributions regardless their source. Prohibit political contributions of any tax exempt money.

Prohibit political contributions by Unions, except as determined by and apportioned to political parties or candidates by a vote of the members, then only if taxed. Allow individual members to elect to prohibit any political contributions from their dues.

12. Review all Federal licensing, permitting and approval processes and fees, with emphasis on eliminating, reducing or consolidating any and all. Fees cannot exceed provable administrative and process costs.

13. There is no such thing as non-discretionary Federal spending, all Federal spending is discretionary.

Cancel all new Social Security benefits begun after 1950. Stop all Medicare benefits originated after 1984. If that doesn’t balance revenue with predicted outlays forever, then reduce benefit levels until there is a projected surplus forever.

Put all entitlement programs back on the budget, there is no such thing as “Off-budget” for any Federal spending.

14. Next, departments, bureaus, commissions, agencies, programs and activities I would want cut entirely and immediately.

A. Department of Education; National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; Stop providing federal aid to Universities; completely unnecessary, violates 10th Amendment.

B. National Public Radio; Public Broadcasting System - completely unnecessary, competes unfairly with duly licensed and authorized private enterprises, violates 10th Amendment.

D. National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities; Commission of Fine Arts; completely unnecessary, violates 10th Amendment.

F. Natural Resources Conservation Service; Conservation Reserve Program; Energy Information Agency; U.S. Geological Survey; Maritime Administration; Marine Mammal Commission.

G. International Trade Commission; Economic Development Administration; Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Exchange Program; International Trade administration; end farm subsidies, most of which go to the wealthiest 10 percent of farms; eliminate all direct corporate welfare payments; Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Trade and Development Agency; Market Access Program; Export-Import Bank; Repeal the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Acts.

H. Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, AmeriCorps; Office of Navajo and Hopi Relocation; State Justice Institute; East-West Center; Legal Services Corporation; Minority Business Development Agency, and Many others.

I. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program; Rural Utilities Service; Essential Air Service Program; Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service; Agricultural Research Service.

J. Non-emergency international food programs; U.S. Institute of Peace.

K. Eliminate all federal advisory committees and commissions spread across 52 agencies, and many, many others.

15. Next, significant changes in needed programs like the following:

Restrict federal housing assistance to those with the greatest need;

Stop funding research that directly benefits private industry;

Enact user fees that recover all the costs of programs from identifiable users;

Require farmers to pay a larger portion of their crop insurance premiums;

Raise flood insurance premiums on repeatedly flooded lands;

Limit Congress's franking privilege to non-election years to prevent taxpayer funding of campaign mailings;

Verify parent income of school lunch recipients, 20 percent of current school lunch participants are ineligible.

And many, many more.

Note: some of the above courtesy of The Heritage Foundation.