The Burden of Democratic Control in DC: Every Dollar Matters and Additional Insights

Conservative: The Burden of Democrats’ Dominance in DC

The misuse of taxpayer funds revealed by the Department of Government Efficiency is “the inevitable by-product of” unelected bureaucrats making “spending decisions without appropriate review or oversight.” However, “the more significant issue” is that “almost all of these bureaucrats are Democrats,” claims James Piereson at The New Criterion.

Washington, DC, is “overwhelmingly populated” with “the most partisan and far-left Democrats,” who “naturally use their authority to promote Democratic Party interests.”

When Republicans “win national elections, they soon realize they must navigate a massive bureaucratic structure controlled by the opposing party — a nearly insurmountable challenge.”

If Team Trump intends to “restructure the bureaucracy,” it will “need to remove a significant number of Democrats.”

DOGE Watch: Every Cent Matters

Some argue that DOGE is “transforming the government”; others contend its savings are “minor”; in fact, Liberty Vittert explains at The Hill, “both views can coexist.”

Even a “small contribution” can accumulate. “Consider the $65 billion” DOGE claims to have reduced from federal spending; that’s “sufficient to provide a $450 check to every taxpayer annually.”

Certainly, “if we genuinely wish to address America’s debt, DOGE’s current objectives are clearly inadequate. Ultimately, the only way to confront America’s $36 trillion debt is to reduce Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — all commitments Trump has vowed not to touch.”

However, “what DOGE is undertaking is crucial, even if its impact on the national debt is minimal” because “it relates to America’s ethos,” that “our hard-earned tax dollars” should not be squandered.

Eye on NY: New York’s 911 Deception

“Since 2009, nearly half the surcharges paid by customers for public safety communications — exceeding $1 billion — have been rerouted to New York’s general fund,” notes Cam Macdonald from Empire Center.

In 2008, Congress permitted states to levy a mobile-phone tax “aimed at enhancing local 911 service technology,” but the Legislature has diverted much of the tax revenue to other purposes from the outset, and its spending on public safety communications is “significantly less than what it collects from the surcharge.”

This “example of how New York is nickeling-and-diming families” also poses a risk of failing “to provide the promised services in emergencies.”

From the Right: Trump’s Medicaid Initiative

Texas Rep. Al Green “is completely mistaken. Trump does possess a mandate” to reduce Medicaid, “and it originates from none other than Joe Biden,” assert the Issues & Insights editorial board.

A “tax scam” where “states can charge the federal government for half of the spending increase” for Medicaid providers to pay a state tax designed purely for this scheme is costing federal taxpayers over $600 billion, “which aligns closely with the savings Republicans are seeking from Medicaid. Provider taxes have become the second largest funding source for Medicaid.”

Moreover, according to Bob Woodward’s reporting, even Biden acknowledged in 2011 that it should be abolished.

“Someone needs to confront Green — and by extension the rest of today’s corrupt Democratic Party — about why he’s willing to risk congressional censure to defend a $600 billion tax scheme even Joe Biden has publicly denounced.”

Education Update: Eliminating the Department of Education is Just the Beginning

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel argues that President Trump’s initiative to dismantle the Department of Education is both “a significant shift” that halts “decades of educational decline” and “an overdue acknowledgment of one of the boldest conservative movements already underway”: school choice.

The $1 trillion allocated by the Department of Education since 1979 has inversely correlated with “declining education scores.”

Choice is now “gaining momentum across states,” which are “innovating with scholarships, vouchers, savings accounts, and charter programs.”

This is a compelling issue for parents. “Congress must act to abolish the department,” but presidential leadership is critical to make educational reform a “movement-wide objective.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board