Replies

K-12 school subsidies, which generate bureaucracy and stifle innovation ($25 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Farm subsidies, which enrich wealthy landowners and harm the environment ($25 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Rural corporate welfare, which is handed out by the Department of Agriculture ($6 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Energy subsidies, which have been one boondoggle after another ($5 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

TSA airport screening, which Trump has said is “a total disaster” ($5 billion).
Disagree. Restructure TSA, but we need federal airport security because the threat is international and will go to the weak point in a state/local system.

The war on drugs, which wastes police resources and generates violence ($15 billion).
Disagree. I can see restructuring the methods and the focus, but illegal drugs are exceptionally harmful. I’m not willing to simply eliminate federal enforcement with no plan.

Excess pay for federal workers, especially gold-plated retirement benefits ($33 billion with a 10 percent cut).
Disagree. The retirement plan was part of the contract, a legal commitment, and it should be followed. However, that plan can be renegotiated for new hires and for those not vested in the system. We don’t have to sustain this forever.

Housing subsidies, which distort markets and damage cities ($37 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Community development aid, which is corporate welfare used for buying votes ($11 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Urban transit and passenger rail funding, which are properly local and private activities ($12 billion).
Agreed - make that go away.

Obamacare exchange subsidies and Medicaid expansion, which should be repealed along with the overall law ($225 billion a year by 2026).
Agreed - make that go away.

All in all, this is a good start. Throw in eliminating the entire Department of Education, the entire Department of Energy, the entire BATFE, and the entire EPA. Transfer any (very few) legitimate functions in those departments to Health and Human Services, FBI, or Interior. Even that is just a start. Big ones: Raise the Social Security and Medicare ages further, audit existing disability claims annually with a government-contracted doctor to make sure they are still disabled. Cut the military to what the services want, without the nonsense that Congress wants funded as pork.