In an age when new federal programs and “czars” seem to spring up every day, the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House is fighting the trend. With support from taxpayer groups, the conservative group of House members announced today formation of a permanent “Sunset Caucus.” whose aim, as RSC Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., put it, is “reining in the overgrowth in Washington that is threatening every American taxpayer.”
Each of the caucus’s 47 members is tasked with adopting one government program and championing its abolition by proposing legislation and discussing it as much as possible in public appearances. Among their top targets are the remaining unspent portion of the economic stimulus package, public funding for presidential elections, Americorps, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Amtrak.
This year’s projected federal deficit of $1.84 trillion is four times the largest previous deficit in U.S. history, and the federal government is borrowing 46 cents for each dollar it spends. Billions of dollars in federal property sits unused, and hundreds of obscure government programs continue to operate long beyond their useful lifetime, often with very narrow interests as their beneficiaries.
Despite having more than 100 dues paying members on its rolls, the RSC was able to do little to curb the growth of government even when Republicans had power. That obviously bodes poorly for any attempt they might make to change spending policy now under Democratic rule.
But their message may resonate with a public that is weary of bailouts and at least wary of government plans to take over automakers, banks and possibly the entire health care system.
“The American people want their change back,” Price told The Examiner. “I think the trend across this land is that people are tired of all the spending at the federal level.”
If the Washington crowd has lost any sense that there are or should be appropriate limits to government’s role, then the RSC is reaching out to the long-forgotten taxpayer.
