106 Ways to Cut the Budget

The Heritage Foundation has released a new report on the American budget — but rather than call for new spending, they suggest 106 different ways to cut the federal budget and decrease the size of government.

These suggestions span sectors, from national defense to housing policy to agriculture. Consider their suggestions for cutting back on “income security” spending:

– Capping means-tested welfare spending then tying it to inflation would save $100 billion in 2016 alone and $2.7 trillion over a decade. Why the cap? It would require lawmakers to send money to the place and people that really need it, rather than letting it grow from year to year. Since the 1960s, welfare spending has increased sixteenfold.
– Require able-bodied adults to work or look for work in order to receive food stamps. This would save the country $5.4 billion each year. Current policy has made it easy to get on food stamps and creates little incentive for people to get back to work.
– The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) consistently loses money due to fraud. By instituting more rigorous controls and penalties for erroneous claims, the government could save $80 billion over a decade.

These are just three of Heritage’s 106 budget proposals.

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