The Reform Party leadership calls on Washington to balance the Federal Budget. This debt is a burden on the next generations of taxpayers, and interest payments on this debt threaten the fiscal health of the entire economy.
The last time the Federal budget was balanced was in 1999 under the Bill Clinton administration, and American debts race towards the 20 Trillion dollar mark. This debt was created by pork barrel spending, hand outs to special interests, fraud, overspending on military projects and waste. The Reform Party wishes to balance the budget by addressing these issues, and raising revenue by cutting special interest tax loopholes.
On the issue of pork barrel spending, the Reform Party would like to keep legislators from using federal funding to support projects that have little economic, social or cultural effect. In this way the Reform Party membership would like to keep legislators from using federal funds to purchase votes, contributions and favors.
One of the largest transfers of wealth in the United States comes in the form of special interest concessions. While the entire system of grants, subsidies, tax loopholes and other incentives need to be reformed, a line item that needs to be looked into is funding for energy research, which accounts for 9 billion dollars.
Fraud and waste accounts for billions of dollars in federal loses. The Grace Commission highlighted 141.5 billion dollars in fraud and waste that could be cut without losing services or changing the basic dynamic of the Federal government.
Increasing Military spending is the quintessential political maneuver of chicken hawk legislators and arm chair generals in Congress. In order to rally the pro-military vote, civilian overseers force military commander to keep antiqued Cold War programs and relics from World War 2 at the cost billions per year. These practices must end in order to keep the military modern and reduce wast in the system.
The Reform Party membership understands that keeping Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid solvent is an important issue, but that these programs must be cleaned up to insure the fiscal health of the nation. The Reform Party wishes to do so by reforming operating practices and policies, and removing the influence of lobbyists and special interest groups from the day to day affairs of these programs’ operation.
