The 10 Percent Revolution: House Spending Bills Fall Short of Overhauling Government

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Scott A. Hodge; John S. Barry

Research Area: Banking and finance

Keywords: Government reform

Type: Report

Abstract:

November, American voters sent a clear message to Washington that they wanted a fundamental change in the way government does business. They wanted the new Republican Congress to cut the size of government and balance the budget, and they wanted tax cuts, not tax increases. This May, Republicans in Congress responded to this mandate by passing a bold blueprint to balance the budget by fiscal 2002 and provide $245 billion in tax cuts. While balancing the budget, the new leadership promised to downsize the government by terminating programs that do not work, eliminating those that have become outdated or obsolete, consolidating programs that duplicate others, ending “corporate welfare,” and transferring programs more appropriately carried out by state or local government to those levels of government.