Winning the Budget Battle in the U.S.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reveals daily evidence of how unbridled government spending wastes billions while lining the pockets of favored contractors and corrupt officials.

- SCOT FAULKNER

The best way to effectively end waste and rein-in government spending is to have the U.S. Supreme Court declare the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public law 93-344) unconstitutional.

America's public debt is currently $36.22 Trillion. It was only $475 billion when the Congressional Budget Act became law in 1974.

The Congressional Budget Act created the current framework within which the Federal Budget is proposed, passed, and implemented. It placed Congress firmly in the driver's seat, and blocked future Presidents from taking actions deemed constitutional and prudent for over 171 years.

The result was instant and dramatic. In the six years prior to the 1974 Act, the federal budget increased on an average of $13.4 billion annually. In the seven years after the Act, the federal increased by over $49 billion annually.

The Peterson Foundation for the study of the National Debt observed: "From 1950-1974, federal deficits averaged 0.7% of GDP. After the Congressional Budget Act was adopted, from 1975-2007, deficits averaged 2.5% of GDP. And when the Congressional Budget Act was enacted in 1974, real (inflation-adjusted) U.S. government debt per person was $3,240."

Today, U.S. Government debt is $106,024 per person.

Expanding Presidential power usually erodes democracy, expands government, and facilitates the rise of an increasingly unaccountable "Imperial Presidency". Ironically, giving Presidents more power to control spending would do just the opposite.

The struggle over government spending has been a fundamental point of contention since the earliest days of our Federal Government.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution outlines the power of Congress to create laws [Sections 1 & 8] and the prevailing nature of those laws once signed by the President or passed over a Presidential Veto [Section 7].