July 20, 2005
The federal budget will decline to $333 billion this fiscal year from $412 billion in 2004.
The reason is a surge of unanticipated tax receipts that has pushed the red ink significantly below levels projected just five months ago.
That puts the president on track for his goal of reducing the deficit by half by 2009.
But it is only half a loaf.
As the president noted, cutting spending is the key to fiscal responsibility.
That’s why the Bush administration has introduced a bill that would create a Sunset commission to review the effectiveness of each federal program according to a schedule established by Congress.
Programs and agencies would automatically terminate unless Congress took specific action to continue them.
The results commission would work to uncover duplication of services in government programs.
This was tried during the Reagan administration.
It was called the Grace commission.
In order to work the public must pay attention and force Congress to save our money and stop misspending the public’s money.
In Northern Ireland, I’m Cal Thomas.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
