Sunday, June 15, 2025
Ask just about anyone on the street if the government is spending too much, and the overwhelming majority will give you a nod. Then why is it so hard to cut government spending?
Everyone says they’re against waste, fraud and abuse, but as soon as specifics come down the pike, they run for the hills. The political opposition will reflexively oppose the cut if it’s proposed by those on the other side of the aisle. And the mainstream media will flood its pages with one heartbreaking story after another about people losing their government jobs or claiming they will no longer receive particular services.
But rarely, if ever, do you see an article that lays out how our children and grandchildren will probably have a lower quality of life because we saddled them with such enormous debt. We are headed off a fiscal cliff, and very few people have the guts to do anything about it.
It’s been said that the pain associated with implementing reciprocity against countries that over-tariff us is the equivalent of the short-term pain a heroin addict will have during detox. The same can be said about trying to wean ourselves off huge government. Easing off public dependency and consistent deficits is going to be painful. But it will be far more painful to do nothing and maintain a status quo that puts us into bankruptcy.
The federal deficit is now $37 trillion, a larger percentage of debt-to-gross domestic product than even during World War II. Our deficits now hover around $2 trillion a year. That might’ve been acceptable during a generational crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic, but the spending increases of that time have not abated, years after the pandemic’s end.
In World War II, we increased spending enormously to fight off an existential threat to the nation. But there was also a dramatic drop in spending after the war ended.
On the other hand, when the pandemic ended, the higher spending did not dip. Rather, that level of spending became the new normal. Before Covid, our annual federal budget was $4.5 trillion. This year it was almost $7 trillion. How can anyone say that trying to bring us down to the pre-Covid levels is somehow inhumane or impossible to implement?
It’s so easy for the political opposition to say, “No, don’t cut that. Of course we’re against waste and abuse, but cut somewhere else.” Notice they never tell you exactly where they would cut.
That’s why those in the federal government who want to trim the budget should follow a pattern I employed as Suffolk County executive after the real estate crash of 2007-08. State funding cratered, and we experienced a 9 percent reduction in sales tax receipts, where in previous years we might’ve had a 9 percent increase. Action had to be taken, so I called on my department heads to trim their budgets by 10 percent.
When they said they couldn’t do it, I told them, “Do it or I will do it for you.” Somehow they found a way, and the county didn’t fall apart.
I did the same the next year, and the year after that. By the time I left office, county spending was a mere 1 percent above where it had been eight years prior, when I took office. And services were just as good.
Likewise, the feds can implement the penny plan, in which every department cuts a penny out of every dollar spent. If households can do it, the government can do it.
The federal government now has 3 million employees. Certainly we can trim it without a dramatic impact on services. The feds must also seek a balanced budget amendment, which forces prioritization.
And finally, if all else fails, Congress can create a commission to cut the budget the same way it eliminated excess military bases after the end of the Cold War. No congresspeople wanted bases in their districts cut, so they created the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to do the cutting for them. It could work as well for trimming our national budget.
Sure, correcting the overspending of the past is going to cause some pain, but as I said above, it won’t be nearly as painful as doing nothing.
Steve Levy is president of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He has served as Suffolk County executive and a state assemblyman, and is host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.” Comments? Steve@commonsensestrategies.com.
