The Daily Hatch

Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:

Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

On May 11, 2011,  I emailed to this above address and I got this email back from Senator Pryor’s office:

Please note, this is not a monitored email account. Due to the sheer volume of correspondence I receive, I ask that constituents please contact me via my website with any responses or additional concerns. If you would like a specific reply to your message, please visit http://pryor.senate.gov/contact. This system ensures that I will continue to keep Arkansas First by allowing me to better organize the thousands of emails I get from Arkansans each week and ensuring that I have all the information I need to respond to your particular communication in timely manner.  I appreciate you writing. I always welcome your input and suggestions. Please do not hesitate to contact me on any issue of concern to you in the future.

Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself:

• Streamline the federal government by:

1. Cutting the non-security workforce by 10 percent;
2. Reducing the number of consultants employed by the federal government by 150,000;
3. Suspending acquisition of new federal office space;
4. Trimming the federal vehicle budget by 5 percent; and
5. Freezing the federal travel budget at $8 billion15 (Total annual savings: $11 billion).

• Implement some additional housekeeping items, including:

1. Taking back grants to state and local governments that have not been spent within the past three years;
2. Rescinding any remaining appropriated funds to promote the new $20 bill (2004 spending: up to $53 million, discretionary); and
3. Consolidating the dozens of small, irrelevant education programs that divert money from more effective education programs ($200 million, discretionary).

This is how bad it is getting:

• Entitlement spending is on autopilot, with annual spending determined by benefit formulas and caseloads.
• Entitlements (excluding net interest) account for 56 percent of all federal spending and 14 percent of GDP—up from 10 percent of GDP three years ago.
• The three largest entitlements are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Their total cost is projected to leap from 8.4 percent of GDP in 2007 to 18.4 percent by 2050.
• Unless those three programs are reformed, policymakers will eventually have to choose from among:

• $12,636 per household by 2050, and further thereafter;
• Eliminating every federal program except Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; or
• Increasing the national debt to unprecedented levels that could cause an economic collapse.