Deseret News | Reader comments: Chaffetz starts group to kill wasteful federal programs

Reader comments
Chaffetz starts group to kill wasteful federal programs

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Jaridavian | 3:30 p.m. June 17, 2009

Yesterday, the congressional budget office estimated that the national " . . . debt held by the public would rise from 57 percent of GDP in 2009 to 82 percent of GDP by 2019." Thank you Jason for doing something to reverse that alarming and astronomically irresponsible trend! I desperately hope you are successful.

Utahn | 3:47 p.m. June 17, 2009

Thank you Jason for finally trying to do something useful in Washington. I suspect it won't work because there are too many pet projects in Washington, but an A for effort. Good Luck.

wow | 3:58 p.m. June 17, 2009

thank you

Comments continue below

YES!!!!! | 4:01 p.m. June 17, 2009

You go Jason!

It is about time this got started!

As Thomas Jefferson stated "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

There is more out there Jason, keep looking.

Noble cause | 4:08 p.m. June 17, 2009

A noble cause to be sure Jason. However, where were the people that are all supporting you in these efforts when Republicans ruled congress and Bush was President and he took a surplus to the largest deficits seen to date and set the stage for the collapse that began on his watch? Where were all you balanced budget people then? Look at history folks, Democratic presidents over the past 40 years are the ones who have cut deficits and on occasion had surpluses.

Shera | 4:09 p.m. June 17, 2009

Bravo! Here's hoping your efforts are contagious and more legislators start opening their eyes to the waste and then join you in your efforts.

Frank Evenson | 4:09 p.m. June 17, 2009

Thank you for a great start in congress. There is so much need in congress to clean up the mess. The democtrats are leading us down a path of distruction. I hope your group of Republicans can stop some of this outragious spending.

Drops in the bucket | 4:12 p.m. June 17, 2009

These are drops in the bucket, but maybe it can catch on...

Gotta start somewhere.

Just imagine if all politicians on the hill were like Jason... he kinda reminds me of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

grrrrrrr | 4:15 p.m. June 17, 2009

you could only find 3 garbage programs tio kill?

Go Jason! | 4:16 p.m. June 17, 2009

Someone is actually showing some common sense in Washington DC! How about that? I like a lot of what I'm hearing about our junior congressman.

C_J | 4:16 p.m. June 17, 2009

Excellent, way to go Congressman Chaffetz!

May sound | 4:19 p.m. June 17, 2009

Like a good idea, but just wait till he starts opening these cans of worms. Eliminating waste is a great idea, but I'll bet some high ranking politicians will block many of these efforts. And while Chaffetz's efforts may seem well-intended, there could be hell to pay when he starts meddling. I can guarantee Ireland won't look favorably on his efforts. But anyway, good luck with that!

No and Yes | 4:20 p.m. June 17, 2009

I disagree with Jason on the whole-body imaging bill (I'd rather have somebody in a back room looking at a fuzzy image of my out-of-shape body than the guy behind me walking through the metal detector with a porcelain knife or composite gun).

But on this stance, I'm behind him all the way. Go. Jason!!!

Attack problem from all sides | 4:24 p.m. June 17, 2009

While we are on the subject of the federal government can't keep getting deeper into debt, why not tax CEO's who make over $500,000 a year more too?

I'm getting tired of hearing how these guys run companies into the ground and walk away with millions.

Come on | 4:27 p.m. June 17, 2009

Chaffetz is playing to the crowd and they are eating it up. This guy won't get a thing done in congress, but he'll talk about it and get re-elected a time or two before getting beat by someone with an IQ over 50. I wish we could elect someone who knows something about something.

Hell i burton | 4:33 p.m. June 17, 2009

how about that bush - chaney thing ..i did not here any bickering about the connected people charging the heck out of a war , we once again aren't even winning ..no one word of the rhetoric ran time after time to start and stay in that war then onto another...and $$$ just started adding up now this President has to pick up the sorry pieces since the other candidate just presented the same ol , same ol. how about closing our borders which the last administration left wide open!

Outspoken | 4:39 p.m. June 17, 2009

Maybe "Come On" should run. He seems to definitely have at least and IQ of 51. Geez, at least Chaffetz is doing SOMETHING. What is Come On doing in any attempt to make things better? Oh let me guess....not working...waiting for the handouts to start rolling in.

Re: Noble Cause | 4:45 p.m. June 17, 2009

I voted for Chaffetz. Last year and this year I wrote to my representatives begging them not to vote for the bailout bills. I will not be voting to re-elect anyone who voted for the bailouts. I will vote to re-elect Chaffetz because he seems to understand what our Constitutional Government is supposed to look like! It will be a tough fight to get our government to come close to resembling what the Constitution says, but at least he's trying.

Rick | 4:45 p.m. June 17, 2009

If some of these programs actually get eliminated then it could really encourage the participants. Chaffetz is attempting to do what Obama should already be doing.

rufus | 4:56 p.m. June 17, 2009

the president asked for ways to eliminate waste these are just a few! America needs to concentrate on America, we are in No situation to help anyone but ourselves, then maybe we could lend a hand! it is very unrealistic and dangerous to future generations of Americans to think we can!

C.W. | 5:02 p.m. June 17, 2009

WHAT? No mohair subsidy? How will we possibly get by without the "mohair subsidy"?

(pun intended)

Thanks Congressman Chaffetz, for your good work!

You may need to buy extra reams of paper, the list will probably get quite long!

I remember... | 5:32 p.m. June 17, 2009

There was a movie released in the '90's called "Dave." He did something similar while trying to save some other more necessary government project. Chaffetz sounds like he's doing the same. It's always a good idea to sit down and see what is working, what isn't, and what's just dumb spending. This needs to be something that BOTH sides of the aisle need to look in to doing.

Go jason | 5:56 p.m. June 17, 2009

I wish you were our rep up here in Logan! I love the show on CNN. Keep up the great work.

Tab L. Uno | 6:21 p.m. June 17, 2009

I would hope that Rep. Chaffetz will also support President Obama's efforts to eliminate "billions of dollars" in wasteful defense spending for boondoggle weapons that are likely not to work in the real world and only support local military industries. As for eliminating additional federal supplanting funds (i.e., Land and Water Conservation fund), as former local City employee who applied for and received over a half million dollars for park improvements, I would hope that such federal program funds that are cut are directly refunded back to the state and local communities through cuts in a proportional cut in individual tax rates so that state, county, and local government officials near to their constituents can decide whether to raise our local taxes to pay for such programs.

lost in DC | 6:39 p.m. June 17, 2009

Noble cause, are you forgetting that slick willy shut down the government three times because the repub congress sent him balanced budgets? slick did not balance the budget, the repubs did, but he'll sure claim credit. it irks me that they later deserted their principles and spent like tipsy sailors. of course, BO is spending like a drunken sailor on steroids.

It looks like BO will do more damage to our budget in one year than shrub did in 8, and that's even before his health care fiasco.

I think "come on" is having a hard time admitting that BO is a bigger spender than shrub, that's why he's attacking jason. Jason is giving us HOPE, can't you deal with that, or does BO have the patent on it? we all know the dems won't let it happen (just look at all the wish list itmes they pushed through in the porkulus), but at least it will be something we'll hear about in the 2010 congressional elections.

Re: Noble Cause | 6:43 p.m. June 17, 2009

Sorry - Bush didn't put us in this predicament all by himself. Clinton and his boy Greenspan opened the floodgates for excess. Democrats want a society that relies on the individual making responsible (COUGH, COUGH)choices. What happens when they fail to do it? To me, the democratic party is becoming more libertarian than sticking to their own foundational values...Hooray for Chaffetz. You have definitely won me over..for a BYU GRAD (HA,HA).

aussie | 7:00 p.m. June 17, 2009

Keep up the good work Congressman Chaffetz. I'm an Australian mohair producer and the sooner these subsidies are done away with the better. Then everyone in the industry can operate on a level playing field, farm more efficiently and produce a better product in the end.
Come on you Yanks, get off the the Government teat and get into the real world, it's more exciting. The Mohair Industry needs it.

Coloradan | 7:04 p.m. June 17, 2009

I wish we had a representative like you representing Colorado. Be sure to take a look at the spending with the economic recovery package. Keep up the good work, this is the kind of change we need.

Instereo | 7:04 p.m. June 17, 2009

Anyone looking at the history of the past 40 years will see it was the republicans that brought this terrible debt upon us. Reagan started it, the Bushes brought us to the bring of disaster. I'm glad Chaffetz is thinking about it and even talking about doing something but his motivation is political, his rhetoric is partisian, and his solutions shallow and his understanding of the situation pathetic.

Anonymous | 7:30 p.m. June 17, 2009

what was the intended pun?

great idea! | 8:10 p.m. June 17, 2009

Great idea! Now someone go tell the gop who put into place all of these programs. What hypocrits.
I don't remember the gop complaining when the pork was headed their way... do you?

PS -- before you try to cut things to one of each remember this: army, navy, air force, marines, merchange marines, coast guard, special forces, delta force, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe there is a reason why we have numerous programs? Yah think?

RedShirt | 8:14 p.m. June 17, 2009

To "Instereo | 7:04 p.m." you have to look back more than 40 years to find the roots of the problem. They go back nearly 100 years ago.

The Federal Reserve bank was designed in 1913 as a way for the government to control the economy and prevent future recessions (if you have looked at history you can see that it hasn't worked yet).

Then, you can move into the Hoover and FDR administrations which gave us many government programs, one of which was the creation of a government agency that would loan money to people with low credit ratings.

Move along to the early 1960's, and you get the government starting to tell banks to repackage loans and sell them off in small pieces.

Now comes Carter in the 1978 with the CRA, and expands the FDR government backed loans to even more people with bad and poor credit.

The 1980's gave us the Reagan Deregulation act that actually put thrifts under control of the Federal Reserve.

The 1990's gave us Clinton pushing more loans to even higher credit risks. Obama helped by suing banks and forcing them into giving loans or closing.

RedShirt | 8:17 p.m. June 17, 2009

To "Instereo | 7:04 p.m." I ran out of room. So, here is the last bit.

From 2000 to 2008 we had numerous warnings from both Bush and McCain that further oversight of Freddie and Fannie needed to be accomplished. Time and time again, the Democrats blocked passage of bills that would have put restrictions and stricter oversight on those programs.

Yes, there were some Republicans involved, but a lot of the the bills, such as the Reagan Deregulation act were passed by Democrat controlled congresses. After all, it is Congress that makes the laws, the president just gives them the final stamp of approval.

L | 11:52 p.m. June 17, 2009

I think a better title wold be an evaluation of government programs to determine what ones should be discarded and which ones continued .... instead of a knee jerk reaction as programs to be eliminated. From my experience, that will bring out the "againers."

Most people will have some programs they think should be eliminated and will never know who or why others benefit, only that they do not get little or nothing out of it.

The Land & Water Conservation Fund was used as an example. Most of us have benefited in some way from this program. Some say let local government pay all the costs when at many park & recreation facilities the majority of users are from other areas. There was one township that decided they didn't want to provide facilities and services to others from outside their township so they fenced and signed the park Township Residents Only. There was lots of adverse reaction including some business from the nearby city refusing to hire anyone from that township. Vandalism increased, and this was over the decision not to accept some $ as a matching grant. To me this seems like a loose-loose deal. Evaluate whether programs should stay!

Good start. | 2:44 a.m. June 18, 2009

They should also target the Dept of Education (which educates no one) and the Dept of Energy (which generates no energy). They should also eliminate wasteful subsidies for ethanol and wind and solar power.

Kudo's | 5:03 a.m. June 18, 2009

It's laudable that this group is looking for ways to stop waste and spending on the vast majority of temporary programs that have become permanent offenders of waste. The group should also add more controls of earmark spending by government too, where most of these programs keep getting their funds and creating new ones. For this to really work they must expose a lot of their elder peers in the graft and waste. Hopefully, the news media will cooperate with exposing the waste and not get used to smear members of the group for their efforts. They must keep america informed constantly and make this list grow and expose them on a daily basis.

The bad part of this effort is that they will be facing off with states and big businesses that bribe and donate to campaign funds of the established waste mongers.

It would be nice if our Utah legislators would make some similar efforts to cut wasteful spending in Utah and relieve us of the need for more taxation. States and their programs have become too dependent on tax payers funding programs of charity. Taxation for charity is unconstitutional and too costly.

Mountain High | 6:17 a.m. June 18, 2009

Now maybe Congressman Snow from Arizona who has made over 115 failed attempts at suppressing attaching markers to bills will finally get some help.

Rookie Leadership | 6:22 a.m. June 18, 2009

Thanks, Jason! Who was it who recently said, "This is no time for rookies?" Was that Senator Bennett or Senator Hatch?

Cherilyn Eagar

Common man | 6:32 a.m. June 18, 2009

Congressman Snow (R) from Arizona is the only person who has even remotely tried to put an end to this wasteful spending. He has been beat down so many times by his fellow congressmen who each have their own pet projects that I'm amazed that he keeps trying. Until Chavetz has openly challenged his fellow congressmen into giving up their attached Markers he has done nothing of any praiseworthiness. He can speak and make announcements all he wants but until he puts words into concrete actions than there is nothing but hot air floating around. His coalition had better be able to produce results...otherwise don't waste our time with your rehtoric....Prove to me and to the people of this state that you have the integrity equal to that of Representaive Snow of Arizona. Start your movement to get rid of the tradition of adding pork markers to bills just before they are to go to a vote.

Anonymous | 7:02 a.m. June 18, 2009

Fine, Congressman Clown, there is nothing wrong with identifying wasteful spending. Do two things, though, if you want to be effective and not just grandstand. First, target all projects, including the sacred cows of the the GOP or favored by Utahns. Too often, guys like you will target someone else's projects but protect their own. Will you be a hypocrit or will you be comprehensive? Second, partner with the majority. If you cannot, or will not, then you are in fact doing this for partisan politics. This will be hard for you, but realize, both parties want responsible spending and want to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. This will be a test of your sincerity on this. Can you pass this test?

Kahuna's | 7:09 a.m. June 18, 2009

Nice to see at least Utah has a Representative that stands up to the over spending Democrats.

JMT | 7:53 a.m. June 18, 2009

I am completely skeptical.

Fact is, Chaffetz is a pandering politician who clearly does not know what is going on. This is just like his new promise to support Ear Marks, but only good ones. Duuhhh!

Or like his tents for all illegals shifting to supporting Guest Worker Visas.

He panders in a very populist manner and the rabid right wing eats it up. They respond to emotional inputs, not fact or logic. He knows this and feeds them emotion and they are happy.

This is a complete waste of time.

Great job | 9:18 a.m. June 18, 2009

Thanks again Congressman Chaffetz for fighting the fight. We need more representatives like you in Congress!

domfree leber | 9:28 a.m. June 18, 2009

With our country in shambles, this clown has done nothing to help bring Americans together to help heal our country. He's just your typical politician, the same type of politician that helped run our country into a hole.

Skeptical | 9:57 a.m. June 18, 2009

Clearly Representative Chaffitz will label any project a Democrat does as wasteful and stand behind everything Republican. This is just more partisan politics. His interest in saving the country any money is a sham. Representatives should be looking at compainies who make billions of dollars a year from Utah federal lands and then compensate the state for pennies on the dollar of profit. Our land is ruined, our natural resources are gone forever, the corporate fat cats are wealthy and we are left holding the bag. We owe that much to our children.If you want to cut waste we should stop dropping millions of dollars in bombs on countries whose only crime was having oil under their feet.

flyking | 10:14 a.m. June 18, 2009

I hate to say it but these little programs for a million here or a couple of mil there, are'nt going to even make the smallest dent in this countrys debt.. When you look at the big picture it's like a family with 10,000 per month in debt payments saying, "well we'll stop giving the kids a quarter under their pillow from the tooth fairy to try to cut down on spending..!" Give me a break..!! It's going to take a whole lot more that ending a few nickle and dime programs.. But at least he's doing something.. I guess that's good.

ScooterMom | 10:30 a.m. June 18, 2009

Hip Hip Hooray! Thank you for showing accountability and eliminating pork, hopefully, from both sides of the aisle wherever it is found.

Anonymous | 11:29 a.m. June 18, 2009

Good, start with the war funding bill. Focus on ending the wars that your party started. Focus on te people here at home rather than sticking our noses in every countries affairs. Stop all global funding for other countries, such as Isreal and Palastine. Work accross party lines and come up with solutions rather than obstructions that will benefit the American people. Invest in education, healthcare and the economy, stop the wealthy from robbing and pilaging from those less fortunate. do something good for the people!

Re, skeptical | 11:39 a.m. June 18, 2009

AMEN Brother! You hit the nail on the head.

Candace | 11:45 a.m. June 18, 2009

Jason,

Let us know how we can help this very worthy endeavor. It is a very wise course of action.

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