Article

2015-11-11 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Federal Agencies Ted Cruz wants to abolish.

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Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 05:15|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top

#1 Cruz said he planned to kill off five major agencies, but when he tried to name them he said the Department of Commerce twice

I'd say Education twice, but it's just me.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2015-11-11 05:57|| 2015-11-11 05:57|| Front Page Top

#2 No EPA? I would list that three times!

Posted by CrazyFool 2015-11-11 07:12|| 2015-11-11 07:12|| Front Page Top

#3 Wonder if Rick Perry is on the Cruz campaign.

Posted by Skidmark 2015-11-11 07:31|| 2015-11-11 07:31|| Front Page Top

#4 Any agency that has decided to become paramilitary and form SWAT teams without explicit functional mandates. No Luftwaffe Field Divisions, no NKVD battalions, and no independent EPA Strike Police Companies. Leave armed force to people that are supposed to be doing it ... they can make a big enough mess, but at least that is their job.

Posted by magpie 2015-11-11 07:43|| 2015-11-11 07:43|| Front Page Top

#5 I'd love to see it but I can't believe one man can overcome the cronies, vested interests and bureaucrats to actually do it.

Posted by AlanC 2015-11-11 08:24|| 2015-11-11 08:24|| Front Page Top

#6 I agree AlanC. When was the last time any U.S. Federal Agency was shuttered? Big gov't has become it's own 'employee owned' enterprise. They've all become too big to fail.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 08:30|| 2015-11-11 08:30|| Front Page Top

#7 If he can't shut them down then move their headquarters out of DC to Barrow Alaska.
The staff would quit and take their pensions.

Posted by jvalentour 2015-11-11 08:32|| 2015-11-11 08:32|| Front Page Top

#8 ...and gifts from the Great Society like NPR, PBS, The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The National Science Foundation (oh, my god, the grant money, not the grant money)...

Posted by Procopius2k 2015-11-11 08:32|| 2015-11-11 08:32|| Front Page Top

#9 Please add the Department Agriculture, which I believe administrates the Federal Food Stamp Program. Talk about too big to fail.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 08:47|| 2015-11-11 08:47|| Front Page Top

#10 most agencies were established by legislative statute and only by changing statute can you abolish them

the Departments are basically clusters of agencies

many of the Departments have large 'oversight and policy' staffs which sometimes get in the way of the agencies doing the work that is required by statute - paring this down would generally be a good thing but it's tough because those staffs usually support political appointees

Posted by lord garth 2015-11-11 08:52|| 2015-11-11 08:52|| Front Page Top

#11 Downsizing the 'Department of the Army' appears to be quite easy to do, at least the uniformed portions.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 08:56|| 2015-11-11 08:56|| Front Page Top

#12 The president is the symptom; congress is the problem.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2015-11-11 09:33|| 2015-11-11 09:33|| Front Page Top

#13 POTUS is both a 'symtom' and a vector. Congress should be quarantined.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 09:37|| 2015-11-11 09:37|| Front Page Top

#14 I'd love to see it but I can't believe one man can overcome the cronies, vested interests and bureaucrats to actually do it.

Actually, it is easier than you might imagine. Oblahblah has set the precedent with his pen and phone.

All a President Cruz would have to do is instruct his Agency/Department head to begin the process of shutting down the agency.

Issue an EO canceling Federal Government Labor Unions and proceed from there. It can be done, just needs someone with the grit to do it.

Posted by Spinesing Gray3122 2015-11-11 10:30|| 2015-11-11 10:30|| Front Page Top

#15 I would say shutting things down would be far easier in a Reagan style wave election.

Perhaps cutting a department is near-impossible but one could merge departments and then not exactly merge the budgets.

For example take the ATF and merge them into the department of homeland security. Then take the bulk of their managers and post them to a Coast Guard base in Alaska to watch for reindeer infiltration on the tundra. Eventually the numbers drop and the ATF is effectively laundered.

I'd do the same with Education, merge them into Homeland security and post the whole lot to Alaska to teach those Reindeer.

Posted by rjschwarz 2015-11-11 11:18|| 2015-11-11 11:18|| Front Page Top

#16 There are many theoretical ways to accomplish that which we would all applaud, BUT, the size of the lobbying organizations and indirectly supported orgs. Think of the parts manufacturers when a car company goes under.

All of the parasite groups will activate their armies and support groups to defend their turf. A utopian fantasy I'm afraid.

Posted by AlanC 2015-11-11 12:12|| 2015-11-11 12:12|| Front Page Top

#17 I 't disagree, AlanC, yet as B pointed out in #11, the military can be reduced, and it's IN the Constitution. Grit and determination. And a big wave from the voters.

Posted by Bobby 2015-11-11 12:46|| 2015-11-11 12:46|| Front Page Top

#18 Defund it and it won't exist anymore.

Posted by newc 2015-11-11 12:57|| 2015-11-11 12:57|| Front Page Top

#19 Prohibit new hiring. Attrition from retirement should held immensely. Also, early retirement options for older employees; the gov't doesn't like them much anyway.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a first stip."
~ Lao-tzu

I wish Trump would have mentioned that last evening when the deportation discussion was swirling the drain.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-11-11 13:12|| 2015-11-11 13:12|| Front Page Top

#20 NMFS. Oh, please please get rid of NMFS.

Posted by no mo uro 2015-11-11 17:55|| 2015-11-11 17:55|| Front Page Top

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