Federal Agencies that should be completely eliminated

[palehorse]

Feel free to debate the merits of each Agency. I certainly expect hostile differences of opinion.

I'll start.

1)
Agency: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Estimated Federal Budget Savings: $128.412 million/yr.
Reason: It's a completely non-essential expense that does nothing for national security, economic stability, or the condition of our infrastructure.

2)
...

 

[bbdub333]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/gove...ependent-agencies.html

Maybe it'd be easier to go down that list and pick the ones that we should keep. I could balance the budget in 10 minutes.

 

[hellod9]

2) The Department Of Defense
Not necessary for the defense of our country.

 

[Craig234]

None come to mind. We should cut the defense budget 50% IMO. We'd still have the biggest military budget of any nation in the world. On the arts, James Earl Jones:

For nearly a decade, I was one of countless struggling artists. In the 1960s, we cheered the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts and our country's new vision of the Great Society. President John Kennedy, whose own vision inspired the Endowment, once said, "If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him."

 

[miketheidiot]

i object to #1

 

[First]

$128M is pocket change, but if I had to cut I'd start first with any subsidies for domestic farming. Our farm bills waste billions and distort market prices upwards in an extreme way, so I'd cut out that spending and any departments related to their continued existence. Family farm is dead, it's long-gone 19th century history.

Cue Paulbots telling us to cut out the Fed, IRS, and CIA without offering any proven alternatives for economic management, government funding, or intelligence gathering. :laugh:

 

[dainthomas]

How about the Department of Homeland Security (aka the Department of Redundancy Department)?

 

[First]

Originally posted by: hellod9
2) The Department Of Defense
Not necessary for the defense of our country.

...if you ate paint chips as a child, sure, that makes sense.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Department of Homeland Security.

 

[MovingTarget]

How about the DEA? If you want to end the drug war, that would be the way to go. Just have the FDA regulate the safety/purity of the supply just like any other drug. Let the various other agencies handle the taxation issues...

Defense should be cut as we need to scale back foreign operations. Remember that MIC that Eisenhower warned us about? You needen't look too far to find examples of the excessive influence that they have held the past few years. (that being said, we need to treat our own soldiers better in terms of care and pay)

More will come as I think of it.

 

[Gand1]

NEA provides Americans with a little something called culture. We waste plenty of money in many other areas that could be cut.

 

[hellod9]

How about this one?

Office of Government Ethics
www.usoge.gov

 

[RichardE]

HAHA 10/10 for troll thread

I would cut DoD funding down considerably and restrict it to border defence. Save alot more money than choice #1.

 

[Anubis]

bring the DEA and ATF under 1 new agency called DAFT

 

[fskimospy]

Keep the NEA, it finances good work. (cue the people whining about modern art) After the conclusion of major involvment in Afghanistan on our part I would cut the DoD budget anywhere from 33-50%.

I also agree with eliminating the DHS.

EDIT: Also I support getting rid of the DEA.

 

[MovingTarget]

Originally posted by: hellod9
How about this one?

Office of Government Ethics
www.usoge.gov

Hmmm... I'd say that this particular office should be revamped or reworked, not cut. Ethics in government is sorely lacking, and having an office to investigate and enforce ethics rules seems like an important safegaurd.

 

[hellod9]

How about all the ones starting with the letter D?


Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
www.darpa.mil

Defense Information Systems Agency
www.disa.mil

Defense Intelligence Agency
www.dia.mil

Defense Logistics Agency
www.supply.dla.mil

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
www.dnfsb.gov

Defense Security Service
www.dss.mil

Defense Threat Reduction Agency
www.dtra.mil

Drug Enforcement Administration
www.usdoj.gov/dea

 

[palehorse]

I simply cannot fathom or comprehend the desire to cut Defense spending during a time when the country is involved in two (or more) wars... seriously, that boggles my mind.

I might understand the notion if we were not still at war, but doing so now just makes no damn sense to me...

Another suggestion:
I believe that the ATF and DEA should be severely downsized and consolidated.

If I were in charge, the words "downsize and consolidate" would be my rule of thumb. The Department of Homeland Security is a prime example of consolidation without the corresponding "downsize." They only got it half-right when it was created...

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: palehorse

I'll start.

1)
Agency: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Estimated Federal Budget Savings: $128.412 million/yr.
Reason: It's a completely non-essential expense that does nothing for national security, economic stability, or the condition of our infrastructure.

I know you're more intelligent than that, but since you seem to have forgotten, the greatness of every nation in history includes their contributions to the arts. The arts enrich both the social and economic well being of any nation.

Thanks for trolling. Now, stop. I know you're better and smarter than that. :thumbsdown:

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: Gand1
NEA provides Americans with a little something called culture. We waste plenty of money in many other areas that could be cut.

"Culture" is something that occurs naturally in every society. There is no reason why it would need to be financed by any Federal government.

 

[LS8]

Homeland Security and the DEA can be eliminated as far as I am concerned.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

After the conclusion of major involvment in Afghanistan on our part I would cut the DoD budget anywhere from 33-50%.

That would be monumentally stupid.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: palehorse
I simply cannot fathom or comprehend the desire to cut Defense spending during a time when the country is involved in two (or more) wars... seriously, that boggles my mind.

I might understand the notion if we were not still at war, but doing so now just makes no damn sense to me...

Because so much defense spending has nothing to do with or is at least not important for the wars, but is rather expensive weapons development and procurement.

But wait, I have one to get rid of:

Blackwater. We won WWII without a Blackwater.

 

[LS8]

Originally posted by: Gand1
NEA provides Americans with a little something called culture. We waste plenty of money in many other areas that could be cut.

I know I know, some elitist snobs like you believe a culture must be invented for Americans because the culture we have isn't good enough.

 

[Arkaign]

DEA
ATF (give this to FBI)
DIA (give this to CIA)
NSA (merge with CIA)
DHS (eliminate, overly political, should fix CIA/FBI before creating huge new expensive groups, and putting DHS over FEMA was mind-shatteringly stupid)