Opponents of a balanced budget amendment and other spending reforms argue that forcing the feds to be fiscally responsible would hurt the American economy.
The feds need to run a deficit, they argue, because the nation's expenditures will always increase faster than tax hikes.
But a new report from a government waste watchdog has called that argument into question. Turns out, all the feds have to do to balance the budget is cut back on wasteful spending.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
If Congress were to cut unnecessary and wasteful spending in the federal government, it could balance the budget in three years based on recommendations by Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan organization.
The report, titled "Prime Cuts 2017," outlines 607 recommendations to cut inefficient government spending that would not only balance the budget within three years but also save taxpayers $336.2 billion in the first year and $2.3 trillion over five years.
"The national debt nearly doubled under former President Obama and is poised to exceed $20 trillion before the end of 2017," the group states. "Wasteful government spending can be cut and the nation can start on a path toward fiscal sanity."
The group evaluates this type of wasteful spending in nearly every agency of the federal government including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Labor Department, the Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department, and the Department of Commerce.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, if Congress were to reduce improper Medicare payments by 50 percent in five years, the department could save taxpayers $20.6 billion (about $4.1 billion per year).
Congress will never cut wasteful spending themselves, which is why We the People need to call an Article V Convention of States.
A Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that force the feds to balance the budget, cut waste, and reform taxes. It can be done -- Congress just needs a little motivation.
