Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

(Alexandria, VA) -- To truly cool the blistering rise of budget deficits in Washington, a federal spending freeze must include all programs, even defense, according to a study released today by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). The non-partisan think tank found that the additional funding needed for Iraq operations can be accommodated without new burdens on taxpayers, as long as budget planners make a meaningful shift in federal priorities.

"A budget freeze or a genuine budget cut may seem drastic, but with a $520 billion deficit and rumblings among some Republicans in Congress that a tax hike is in the works, an across-the-board strategy is long overdue," said NTUF Director of Government Affairs Paul J. Gessing. "Fortunately, this study shows spending can be restrained without harming our national security or contradicting government's insistence on providing a safety net for the least well-off."

President Bush's FY 2005 budget proposes a near-freeze of 0.5 percent on the growth of non-defense, non-homeland security, discretionary spending. However, this represents less than 1/5 of all federal outlays. Overall, expenditures (after including a post-election "supplemental" bill for Iraq and Afghanistan) would still rise by 5.65 percent. Gessing asserts that a more comprehensive approach is both feasible and effective in controlling deficits:

Despite Bush's call to eliminate 65 federal programs costing $4.9 billion annually, there is still 17 times more new spending in the budget than cuts. The GOP Congress could correct this imbalance by following through on longstanding promises to eliminate or scale back funding increases for the Department of Energy, AmeriCorps, and the cash-rich Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Gessing points out, "numerous unnecessary military programs are flush with cash while troops in Iraq experience daily shortages of basic, inexpensive equipment like night goggles and body armor." Targeting just four programs (the F-22 Raptor, the Joint Strike Fighter, the Osprey transport, and the Virginia-class submarine) would "free up" nearly $15 billion in budget resources.
Re-deploying U.S. troops from four stable countries -- Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. -- could double America's personnel presence in Iraq. On the home front, billions of dollars in savings could be realized by proceeding with the Bush Administration's initiative for a new round of the military Base Realignment and Closure process.

"Given the nature of conventional military threats, America has yet to optimize its defense spending," Gessing concluded. "In order to preserve the benefits of the Bush tax cuts and address other fiscal problems like the Alternative Minimum Tax, policymakers must go where the ducks are in hunting for ways to control federal spending. And, despite recent decisions to cancel systems like the Comanche helicopter, many of the fattest ducks can still be found flying around the Pentagon."

NTUF is the research and educational affiliate of the National Taxpayers Union, a non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969. Note: NTUF Issue Brief 146, Secure Economic Growth Tomorrow by Freezing the Budget Today, is available online at www.ntu.org.