Posted on 02/23/2013 5:52:08 AM PST by BarnacleCenturion
Not only is Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) calling out the Obama administration’s “dishonest” doom-mongering on the sequester, he also put forward his own plan, released today, to replace the impending cuts with alternative savings, and to do so “without layoffs,” according to a release from the senator’s office.
Paul’s bill would reduce federal spending by more than $85 billion annually by directing the government to:
Stop Hiring New Federal Employees ($6.5 billion per year)
More than 60,000 people left the federal workforce in 2011. This provision would end the practice of hiring new employees to replace them.
Bring Federal-Employee Pay in Line with Private Jobs ($32 billion per year)
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that federal-employee compensation is 16 percent higher compared with the private sector. This provision would reduce federal salaries to a more commensurate level.
Reduce Federal-Employee Travel by 25 Percent ($2.25 billion per year)
The federal government spends about $9 billion on travel, according to the General Services Administration, which ironically was the center of a recent scandal for its exorbitant spending on travel and conference costs. Paul bill’s would rein in such expenses.
Focus Military Research on Military Needs ($6 billion per year)
Paul’s office cites research from Senator Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), which found that the Defense Department spent $6 billion on research that had little or nothing to do with military needs.
Require Competitive Bidding for Government Contracts ($19 billion per year)
This provision would repeal prevailing-wage requirements under which employees are often paid higher wages to work on federal projects, and end the practice of awarding federal contracts without a competitive bidding process to ensure the government is contracting work at the lowest price possible.
Cut 50 Percent of Foreign Aid ($20 billion per year)
It is consistently one of the only portions of the budget Americans actually want to cut.
And a word to Moochelle...be sure to remind your “husband” no more free rides for his boyfriends.!
The Media is shameless.
In my lifetime I have never seen anyone so protected by so called Journalists. Traitors and 5th columnists is what they are.
Reduce Federal-Employee Travel by 25 Percent
If I’m not mistaken, from my time contracting in Iraq, State Dept employees get around $3500 to travel with. Certain folks, like DSS agents, are required to fly 1st class. Not for security reasons, its what their union says they have to fly. However, as I’ve heard firsthand, some employees get to use that money to not only fly home, but to purchase other tickets so they can travel all over the place visiting friends and family. Nice to know that the taxpayer gets to pay for their vacation trips.
Stop Hiring New Federal Employees
A good friend works on an ATF Task Force in a major metro area. Tells me of agents that aren’t allowed to work on cases anymore due to being found guilty of untruthfulness. Untruthfulness to supervisors about why they were late, where they were, etc etc etc.
Some may say that is ridiculous. It is. But when a defense attorney in federal court requests your personnel file and sees that you’ve been found to be untruthful, they will crush you in court.
This results in the federal prosecutors making sure you don’t work any cases, for fear that one would get tossed or they would lose due to the agents administrative issues and not on the merits of the case itself.
So, there are agents, making $100k plus, sitting in an office playing Words w/ Friends and perusing Facebook all day.
True story.
That's true.
But many of those non-burger-flipping federal employees would be more valuable to the American consumer if they were indeed flipping burgers. Since then they would be doing something the consumer wants and not doing things that curtail the consumer's rights or cost the consumer money (either directly via taxes or indirectly via higher prices).
Of course, many of those worthless government employees would be capable of contributing a lot more than burger flipping services if they were forced into free market employment. The fact that they are not so forced robs the GNP of its potential.
I totally agree, which is why we need to eliminate agencies, not do across the board cuts.
Well thought-out, common-sensical, responsible.
In other words, it won’t see the light of day in the Democrat Senate.
If every month 85 Billion Dollars are spent by Bernanke, then the economy is stimulated.
If once a year 85 Billion Dollars are NOT spent by Obama, then the economy is harmed.
Right?
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