Republicans Unveil Sunset Caucus to Reduce the Federal Budget

Members of Congress often rail against the loss of taxpayer dollars to waste, fraud, and abuse. They are always ready to sharpen their image of fiscal responsibility by calling for greater savings by eliminating excessive spending. But the vigilance of too many Members stops there. Today, my colleagues and I in the Republican Study Committee unveiled the Sunset Caucus to provide an easy opportunity for Congress to reduce the federal budget.

The Sunset Caucus is designed to shrink our ballooning government budget by eliminating federal programs, offices, and agencies that are duplicative or obsolete.

As Ronald Reagan once said, “a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth.”

As a member of the Sunset Caucus, I will select some program or agency that has outlived its usefulness, duplicates other government programs or that Congress never had any business creating in the first place. The fight for the taxpayers has to start somewhere.

The average federal program duplicates five other programs. For example, there are about 60 separate welfare programs, approximately160 job training programs, and over 300 economic development programs. When American families are struggling to make ends meet, Congress should be looking for ways to tighten the government’s belt too, and this is a good place to start.

If we can’t make the easy decision to cut this kind of wasteful spending, is it is any wonder the American people are doubtful of Washington’s intentions to make the so-called “difficult choices.”