SNAP's cuts have many worried.

[Ray From Cleveland]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

============

Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

The point of this topic is cuts. No matter what you cut, somebody is going to complain about it which is why politicians seldom address cutting anything. If we cut SNAP's, then the left will bitch. If we cut military spending, the right will bitch. If we cut agriculture subsides, farmers and many consumers will bitch.

I think Dr Walter E Williams put it best when he said this:

"I'm going to run for Congress. My platform will be I will bring no money back to my state. I will vote down all unnecessary spending. Would you vote for me?"

So is the deficit the fault of Congress, the President, or we the people?

 

[WillPower]

I used to sell the EBT platform as part of Visa/MC/AmX merchant services and believe me the rules are strict and are followed for the most part. Few merchants will risk their business by getting TMFed for screwing around with SNAP transactions. Folks need to eat....if they can't get food, they'll steal it or rob you for food money. I look at it as a crime-prevention program.

 

[DrLove]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

============

Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

Let's eliminate the Federal Department of Education. Totally superfluous and serves no purpose that local school districts/boards cannot.

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

 

[Norman]

Great news that spending is getting cut. MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA!!

And to have a table full of great American food... I recommend getting a job.

 

[jc456]

CHICAGO (AP) — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home.

The $194 deposited monthly on his benefits card buys fresh produce and meat.

“It means the world to me,” said Butler, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with two others. “We can go without a lot of things, like phones and music. We can’t go without eating.”

But that stability is being threatened for people like Butler, who are able-bodied, without dependents and between the ages 18 and 49. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. They hit particularly hard in places like Illinois, which also has been dealing with a separate, similar change in the nation's third-largest city.

From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements. They've filed a multi-state lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and people of color.

States scramble to prepare ahead of food stamps rule change

Just a little something different from the 50 primary topics today.

For the last year or so, all we have seen are the leftists on this board protest Trump's spending. Well, Trump heard your pleas. Now he's cutting spending. This is not a new idea, it's been implemented in many of the Republican governed states, and seems to have been successful.

Now that Trump is cutting the budget to reduce the deficit, how many of you spending complainers approve of his idea? After all, the economy is doing well, so you can't complain that some people can't get a job. It won't hurt our elderly as the age limit is up to 49. It won't hurt the children because these standards only apply to those with no dependents. What can you object to?

This guy is unmarried and living with two others in a one deb apartment... He has little in life and you think he needs motivation by making him starve...

This guy didn't have a great time growing up.. Thing is you don't care, has he refused programs? are the programs any good?

Let's start, Why didn't Trump increase funding for public funding job training first, are you sure there is enough spaces?

What does not having a good life have to do with getting a job and working for your food? If his other two buddies are also receiving the same amount in food stamps, they are bringing in close to $600.00 a month for food alone.

the question is how do they pay their rent and utilities?

Don't the left just hate life choices?

 

[Norman]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

============

Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

Let's eliminate the Federal Department of Education. Totally superfluous and serves no purpose that local school districts/boards cannot.

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

It would take a miracle to make public education worse. Just yesterday I was debating with a leftist who thought capital gains have nothing to do with stocks.

The education has zero practical value, and the theoretical value is not much higher.

 

[WillPower]

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

Betsy is who is standing between American kids and marxist garbage being taught in the government schools, dummy. Too late for your ilk but in the future, we'll look back and wonder why we didn't fire everybody in those commie nests of losers before we lost the last generation to them.

 

[jc456]

CHICAGO (AP) — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home.

The $194 deposited monthly on his benefits card buys fresh produce and meat.

“It means the world to me,” said Butler, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with two others. “We can go without a lot of things, like phones and music. We can’t go without eating.”

But that stability is being threatened for people like Butler, who are able-bodied, without dependents and between the ages 18 and 49. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. They hit particularly hard in places like Illinois, which also has been dealing with a separate, similar change in the nation's third-largest city.

From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements. They've filed a multi-state lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and people of color.

States scramble to prepare ahead of food stamps rule change

Just a little something different from the 50 primary topics today.

For the last year or so, all we have seen are the leftists on this board protest Trump's spending. Well, Trump heard your pleas. Now he's cutting spending. This is not a new idea, it's been implemented in many of the Republican governed states, and seems to have been successful.

Now that Trump is cutting the budget to reduce the deficit, how many of you spending complainers approve of his idea? After all, the economy is doing well, so you can't complain that some people can't get a job. It won't hurt our elderly as the age limit is up to 49. It won't hurt the children because these standards only apply to those with no dependents. What can you object to?

This guy is unmarried and living with two others in a one deb apartment... He has little in life and you think he needs motivation by making him starve...

This guy didn't have a great time growing up.. Thing is you don't care, has he refused programs? are the programs any good?

Let's start, Why didn't Trump increase funding for public funding job training first, are you sure there is enough spaces?

What does not having a good life have to do with getting a job and working for your food? If his other two buddies are also receiving the same amount in food stamps, they are bringing in close to $600.00 a month for food alone.

I agree. Let em get a job and support themselves. Why should taxpayers support these lazy idiots.

They have no incentive to get off their lazy asses because someone, we taxpayers that is, are supporting those lazy asses.

Good for Trump. Hope he cuts many more programs just like this one.

three working age and healthy men not working. hmmmmmmmm

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

CHICAGO (AP) — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home.

The $194 deposited monthly on his benefits card buys fresh produce and meat.

“It means the world to me,” said Butler, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with two others. “We can go without a lot of things, like phones and music. We can’t go without eating.”

But that stability is being threatened for people like Butler, who are able-bodied, without dependents and between the ages 18 and 49. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. They hit particularly hard in places like Illinois, which also has been dealing with a separate, similar change in the nation's third-largest city.

From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements. They've filed a multi-state lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and people of color.

States scramble to prepare ahead of food stamps rule change

Just a little something different from the 50 primary topics today.

For the last year or so, all we have seen are the leftists on this board protest Trump's spending. Well, Trump heard your pleas. Now he's cutting spending. This is not a new idea, it's been implemented in many of the Republican governed states, and seems to have been successful.

Now that Trump is cutting the budget to reduce the deficit, how many of you spending complainers approve of his idea? After all, the economy is doing well, so you can't complain that some people can't get a job. It won't hurt our elderly as the age limit is up to 49. It won't hurt the children because these standards only apply to those with no dependents. What can you object to?

This guy is unmarried and living with two others in a one deb apartment... He has little in life and you think he needs motivation by making him starve...

This guy didn't have a great time growing up.. Thing is you don't care, has he refused programs? are the programs any good?

Let's start, Why didn't Trump increase funding for public funding job training first, are you sure there is enough spaces?

What does not having a good life have to do with getting a job and working for your food? If his other two buddies are also receiving the same amount in food stamps, they are bringing in close to $600.00 a month for food alone.

the question is how do they pay their rent and utilities?

Don't the left just hate life choices?

Oh, I'm sure at least one of them are working. But they stay under a certain income level to keep the food stamps coming.

I delivered to companies who use temp services. When things get busy, they ask the temps if they could work a few more hours. Many of them refuse because it would put them over their monthly income limit.

Several years ago I had a couple with two kids renting from me. They got further and further behind on their rent. So I asked them to come over and talk about their problem.

He worked full-time, but didn't make a huge wage. She stayed home with the kids. He refused to work one hour past 40. So I came up with a solution to their problem. I suggested that since he's home all weekend, he could watch the kids, and she can get a part-time job somewhere working 10 hours each day. It would not only bring them back to date with their back rent, but it would solve other financial problems they were having.

They didn't even consider it. Why? They were unmarried, so she got a huge food stamp allowance for her and her kids. Since they made no effort to solve their problem, I had them evicted, and afterwards, had his wages garnished for a year to repay everything he owed to me.

All that for food stamps.

 

[Norman]

Welfare destroyed the black community.

President Trump put them back to work and on track... out of the plantation. No wonder his support is up 50%.

 

[DrLove]

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

Betsy is who is standing between American kids and marxist garbage being taught in the government schools, dummy. Too late for your ilk but in the future, we'll look back and wonder why we didn't fire everybody in those commie nests of losers before we lost the last generation to them.

My recollection had been that you were a reasonably intelligent feller Will. Either Donald Dumbed you Down or my recollection was off

 

[jc456]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

============

Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

Let's eliminate the Federal Department of Education. Totally superfluous and serves no purpose that local school districts/boards cannot.

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

It would take a miracle to make public education worse. Just yesterday I was debating with a leftist who thought capital gains have nothing to do with stocks.

The education has zero practical value, and the theoretical value is not much higher.

how about property? buying and selling property? these fking idiots pay far too much attention to leftists. more than 100 million people own 401Ks, and everyone of them would be hit by capital gains increases. but the idiots don't know that. Their efforts are focused on 15% of people who don't want healthcare. too sad.

 

[DrLove]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

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Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

Let's eliminate the Federal Department of Education. Totally superfluous and serves no purpose that local school districts/boards cannot.

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

It would take a miracle to make public education worse. Just yesterday I was debating with a leftist who thought capital gains have nothing to do with stocks.

The education has zero practical value, and the theoretical value is not much higher.

There are dumb people on both sides of the aisle Norman. And some of the dumbest I know went to private schools.

Hey, is your last name "Bates"?

 

[jc456]

Instead of those slimy cuts to a very small SNAP food budget, which enormously help the poor and struggling people, lets concentrate on saving at LEAST $100 billion in cutting useless programs completely that have no useful reason to exist.

Example from CAWG:

Introduction
The United States is heading toward a fiscal reckoning. An August 21, 2019 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projected a deficit of $960 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2019 and average annual deficits of $1.2 trillion between FYs 2020 and 2029. According to CBO Director Phillip Swagel, “the nation’s fiscal outlook is challenging. Federal debt, which is already high by historical standards, is on an unsustainable course, projected to rise even higher after 2029 because of the aging of the population, growth in per capita spending on health care, and rising interest costs.”

The two-year budget deal signed by President Trump on August 2, 2019 will contribute to the nation’s fiscal morass. It increases military and non-military spending by $320 billion above the budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and will pile on an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

To help prevent this fiscal disaster from occurring, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is releasing Prime Cuts 2019, which has been published since 1993. The 2019 version contains 620 recommendations that would save taxpayers $433.8 billion in the first year and $3.9 trillion over five years.

Prime Cuts 2019 addresses every area of government spending. For example, the report proposes eliminating the Market Access Program (MAP), which aims to help agricultural producers promote U.S. products overseas. However, MAP is a corporate welfare program that funnels millions of dollars to large, profitable corporations and trade associations that can well afford to pay for their own ads. Eliminating MAP would save taxpayers $870 million over five years.

Numerous cuts can be made at the Pentagon without jeopardizing national security, including eliminating congressional add-ons for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F-35 is $195 billion over budget, eight years behind schedule, and on pace to become the most expensive weapon system in history, with an estimated lifetime cost of $1.2 trillion for operation and maintenance.

The recommendations also include long-standing proposals to eliminate the sugar, dairy, and peanut programs; reduce Medicare improper payments by 50 percent; and, increase the use of software asset management tools.

By following the blueprint provided by CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2019, wasteful government spending can be reined in and the nation can begin to chart a path toward fiscal sanity. Prime Cuts 2019 is essential reading for taxpayers, the media, and legislators alike.

I. AGRICULTURE
Eliminate the Rural Utilities Service

1-Year Savings: $8.4 billion
5-Year Savings: $42.1 billion

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established in 1935 to bring electricity to America’s rural communities. By 1981, 98.7 percent electrification and 95 percent telephone service coverage was achieved. Rather than declaring victory and shutting down the REA, the agency was transformed into the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) in 1994 and then expanded to provide loans and grants for other purposes including telephone service to underserved areas of the country. That mission was further expanded under the 2002 Farm Bill to provide broadband services to unserved or underserved rural areas, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. These services are provided in part through the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program (BAP).

Some of the BAP’s wasteful projects include the $667,120 given to Buford Communications of LaGrange, Arkansas, (population 122) in 2009 to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network and a new community center. This equates to $5,468 per resident of LaGrange.

Another RUS program rife with waste is the Water and Waste Disposal System Loans and Grants Program (WWD), which was intended to improve quality of life and create jobs in rural communities. According to a July 2012 Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General (IG) report, “as of September 30, 2011, RUS had obligated $3.3 billion in grants and loans to fund 854 WWD projects throughout the United States.” Only three of the 22 projects examined by the IG were completed on time, and the majority of the projects were started five to 30 months after the funds were obligated. The RUS created only 415 new jobs through the WWD, which is “less than 20 percent of the actual jobs identified in planning estimates.”

CAGW’s 2019 Congressional Pig Book identified a $10 million earmark for high energy cost grants within the RUS.

The time has come to unplug and dispose of the RUS.

LINK

red bolding mine

============

Some people seem to enjoy beating down the poor and needy people, while ignoring massive waste of taxpayers money that doesn't help anyone but the super rich.

Let's eliminate the Federal Department of Education. Totally superfluous and serves no purpose that local school districts/boards cannot.

Betsy Wetsy is working hard on that - But not for long!

It would take a miracle to make public education worse. Just yesterday I was debating with a leftist who thought capital gains have nothing to do with stocks.

The education has zero practical value, and the theoretical value is not much higher.

There are dumb people on both sides of the aisle Norman. And some of the dumbest I know went to private schools.

Hey, is your last name "Bates"?

 

[WillPower]

My recollection had been that you were a reasonably intelligent feller Will. Either Donald Dumbed you Down or my recollection was off

If Trump hadn't come along, I'd have to have run and won the Presidency....I'm late in the 4th quarter so I let him do it and am enjoying the hell out of him doing it while I kick back and enjoy my golden years. Your drug-addled recollections obviously didn't include my years on the Slate board calling for open warfare with the Swamp.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

CHICAGO (AP) — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home.

The $194 deposited monthly on his benefits card buys fresh produce and meat.

“It means the world to me,” said Butler, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with two others. “We can go without a lot of things, like phones and music. We can’t go without eating.”

But that stability is being threatened for people like Butler, who are able-bodied, without dependents and between the ages 18 and 49. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. They hit particularly hard in places like Illinois, which also has been dealing with a separate, similar change in the nation's third-largest city.

From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements. They've filed a multi-state lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and people of color.

States scramble to prepare ahead of food stamps rule change

Just a little something different from the 50 primary topics today.

For the last year or so, all we have seen are the leftists on this board protest Trump's spending. Well, Trump heard your pleas. Now he's cutting spending. This is not a new idea, it's been implemented in many of the Republican governed states, and seems to have been successful.

Now that Trump is cutting the budget to reduce the deficit, how many of you spending complainers approve of his idea? After all, the economy is doing well, so you can't complain that some people can't get a job. It won't hurt our elderly as the age limit is up to 49. It won't hurt the children because these standards only apply to those with no dependents. What can you object to?

Trump is not cutting the budget nor reducing the deficit, he is merely moving where the money is spent

 

[debbiedowner]

Great news that spending is getting cut. MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA!!

And to have a table full of great American food... I recommend getting a job.

Are you happy his administration has proposed to pay hospitals and doctors for coronovirus patients without insurance?

 

[Norman]

Great news that spending is getting cut. MAGA MAGA MAGA MAGA!!

And to have a table full of great American food... I recommend getting a job.

Are you happy his administration has proposed to pay hospitals and doctors for coronovirus patients without insurance?

I am fine with reducing the spread of the virus.

Last time I checked democrats were talking about attempting to spread it to Trump rallies.

 

[The Original Tree]

CHICAGO (AP) — Having food stamps offers Richard Butler stability he’s rarely known in his 25 years. He was in state custody at age 2, spent his teen years at a Chicago boys’ home and jail for burglary, and has since struggled to find a permanent home.

The $194 deposited monthly on his benefits card buys fresh produce and meat.

“It means the world to me,” said Butler, who shares a one-bedroom apartment with two others. “We can go without a lot of things, like phones and music. We can’t go without eating.”

But that stability is being threatened for people like Butler, who are able-bodied, without dependents and between the ages 18 and 49. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. They hit particularly hard in places like Illinois, which also has been dealing with a separate, similar change in the nation's third-largest city.

From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements. They've filed a multi-state lawsuit, expanded publicly funded job training, developed pilot programs and doubled down efforts to reach vulnerable communities, including the homeless, rural residents and people of color.

States scramble to prepare ahead of food stamps rule change

Just a little something different from the 50 primary topics today.

For the last year or so, all we have seen are the leftists on this board protest Trump's spending. Well, Trump heard your pleas. Now he's cutting spending. This is not a new idea, it's been implemented in many of the Republican governed states, and seems to have been successful.

Now that Trump is cutting the budget to reduce the deficit, how many of you spending complainers approve of his idea? After all, the economy is doing well, so you can't complain that some people can't get a job. It won't hurt our elderly as the age limit is up to 49. It won't hurt the children because these standards only apply to those with no dependents. What can you object to?

Get a Job. That's what they should do.

 

[DrLove]

My recollection had been that you were a reasonably intelligent feller Will. Either Donald Dumbed you Down or my recollection was off

If Trump hadn't come along, I'd have to have run and won the Presidency....I'm late in the 4th quarter so I let him do it and am enjoying the hell out of him doing it while I kick back and enjoy my golden years. Your drug-addled recollections obviously didn't include my years on the Slate board calling for open warfare with the Swamp.

Ahh good ol' Slate. I found that place during the 2000 hanging chad debacle when SCOTUS selected Junior. Mostly BallotBox as I recall. All the boards eventually become cesspool RW fever swamps. This one no exception.