YouCut is Eric Cantor's pet crowdsourcing project to choose what programs the GOP would target, in an attempt to prove that they're fiscal conservatives. (caution: videos autoplay on every page)
It was been mentioned before on dKos back in May, but since then they've been tabulating the votes and have started naming cuts they want. They've also won control of the House next year, meaning they've got the chance to take serious, cost cutting measures. It's time to see what the YouCut crowd has come up with, add up all the savings and revel in our fiscal solvency! Let's start the countdown!
Week 1: New Non-Reformed Welfare Program. Savings: $2.5 billion a year ($25 billion over 10 years).
Week 2: Eliminate Federal Employee Pay Raise. Savings: $2 billion next year and $30 billion over ten years
Week 3: Reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Savings: $30 billion.
Week 4: Sell Excess Federal Property. Savings: $15 billion.
Week 5: Prohibit Hiring New IRS Agents to Enforce the Health Care Law. Savings: $5-10 billion over 10 years. Or $15 billion if you look at the front page.
Week 6: Taxpayer Subsidized Union Activities. Savings: $120 million a year and $1.2 billion over 10 years.
Week 7: Prohibit Stimulus Funding for Promotional Signage And Recoup Previously Spent Funds. Savings: Um, some, but they're not sure how much: "[N]o accurate information exists on the total number of signs erected and their cost to taxpayers. Press reports from across the country indicate, however, that the costs could well be in the millions of dollars. "
Week 8: Prohibit "First-Class" Subsidies on Amtrak. Savings: $1.2 billion over 10 years.
Week 9: Bipartisan Proposal to Terminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit. Savings: $1.1 billion over 10 years.
Week 10: Require Collection of Unpaid Taxes From Federal Employees. Savings: $1 billion
Week 11: Reduce Government Employment to 2008 Levels. Savings: $35 billion over 10 years.
Wow. Look at all of those savings. It's amazing what crowd sourcing can do.
The net total? $154.5 billion dollars over the next 10 years if their numbers are accurate. That averages out to $15.4 billion dollars a year.
That's a lot of money. And all it took was cutting several programs that help the unemployed, bump up the unemployment rate by shedding government jobs and other such trivial things.
Let's see it in bar graph form.
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Fantastic. What a bargain. Let's take a look at the deficit reduction.
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Outstanding. Hooray fiscal responsibility!
Now, lest you think that YouCut will stop simply because Republicans took the House, you'd be wrong! This week YouCut voters get three new choices!
Choice 1: Defund NPR. Savings: Tens of Millions of Dollars.
Choice 2: Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program. Savings: $87.5 million over 10 years.
Choice 3: Terminate the Presidential Election Fund. Savings: $520 million over 10 years.
Those cuts would shave a good half a pixel off of the deficit chart. And, if we assume that Republicans will keep proposing $15.4 billion per year in savings per 11-week cycle, they'll have balanced the 2011 budget just in time for the 2028 budget.