Members of the U.S. Congress insist that the government get a handle on costs. They say billions must be trimmed from the federal budget, else the nation will go belly up.
Balancing the budget, raising the debt ceiling or not raising the debt ceiling, has been the new debate between Democrats and Republicans the past several months. Everyone agrees that cuts must be made. Problem is, no one knows where they should be made or who should be asked – or made to – carry the load. Some say the wealthy, others say senior citizens and a few say future generations, including those not yet born.
Well, here’s an idea. How about telling federal agencies and their overseers, the members of the U.S. Congress, to keep a closer eye on the dollars they have and where they’re going.
Do this and they may find enough to spare the nation’s seniors, who are in the crosshairs of federal cuts, and the nation’s youngest children, the future generation that will be saddled with tremendous debt unless the government changes its free-spending and wasteful ways.
A case in point is the Kuwaiti company accused of overcharging American taxpayers for food supplied U.S. troops in the Mideast. This is now a court battle, where prosecutors claim the government was overcharged by as much as $68 million. It may be even more than that.
Why didn’t the agency or individuals in charge of this program catch this sooner? In addition to preventing the nation from spending millions of dollars unnecessarily, millions it doesn’t have, they could have saved the taxpayers the added expense of a court battle with the company accused of overcharging. The government may find itself spending another $68 million before all is said and done.
The individuals or agencies responsible for this program should be dismissed and replaced by employees who actually care where the money they spend is coming from and where it is being spent.
At the very least, as stated before, Congress should consider offering a handsome bounty to any federal worker who sees or stumbles upon government waste.
Why take from senior citizens what they’ve earned or from children who haven’t earned anything yet when just keeping a closer eye on spending, fraud and waste would save the government - us taxpayers - a fortune?
Americans are tired of Congress frittering away their hard-earned dollars and asking for more.