Here's a breakdown of the Republican Study Committees budget proposal, according to the RSC press release:
RSC Budget:
- Balances the budget within the budget window
- Includes pro-growth tax policy (guards against automatic tax increases)
- Makes no changes to Social Security
- Makes real reductions in discretionary spending
- Includes reconciliation/entitlement reform
- Increases defense spending
- Decreases foreign aid
- Significantly restructures three cabinet agencies
- Eliminates federal programs
- Includes budget process reform
Note: The 1995 "Contract with America" budget did all of these things.
The "Contract with America: Renewed" proposed by the Republican Study Committee would eliminate at least 150 programs from the FY 2007 budget.
Here are a few that stand out:
- The NASA Education Program: designed to encourage students to study space-related disciplines, the federal government already operates and funds 207 educational program - this one is a duplicate.
- Economic Assistance to Egypt: Egypt is the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, but according to the proposal, "its human rights record remains poor" and "Egyptian authorities continue to mistreat and torture prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, hold detainees in prolonged pretrial detention, and occasionally engage in mass arrests without charge." (Note: funding through the separate Foreign Military Financing Program would continue.)
- U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration: Designed to promote the U.S. to foreign travelers, the International Trade Administration does the same thing. Most states have their own programs as well.
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Taking in $400 million annually, the CPB still continues to run "questionable programming" - like sex education partially paid for by the Playboy Foundation - and popular programs such as "Sesame Street" could fund PBS itself.
- National Endowment for the Arts: The public pours enough into the arts, no federal funding is needed (Billions were privately donated in 2001 - the NEA's $105 million that year made up less than 0.4%).
- Education Programs for Native Hawaiians: Since they aren't a tribe, only a racial group, it's unconstitutional that Native Hawaiians would receive more than federal funding than other ethnicities. Financial assistance is already provided through other programs.
