Lots of Americans – and even some members of Congress – want to cut spending. But there is not a great deal of agreement on the best ways to do that.
Brian Riedl, a budget expert from the highly regarded Heritage Foundation think tank, offers some excellent places where the new Congress can begin to reduce spending – and our $13.8 trillion national debt – come January.
Here are a few of his ideas:
• Reform federal pay. A typical federal worker gets 30 percent to 40 percent more in total compensation than a similar private-sector worker. “[A]ll this extra pay adds up to $47 billion,” Riedl wrote. That clearly needs to change. A proposed partial freeze on federal pay hikes is a start but does not go far enough.
• End corporate welfare. Companies should “rise and fall on their own, without politicians picking winners and losers,” Riedl noted.