Clint For Congress

Platform Plank

BALANCE THE BUDGET AND KEEP IT BALANCED

Clint Jones, the Libertarian candidate for CD 1, is the only candidate in his race with a specific plan to balance the federal budget and keep it balanced, without increasing taxes. Confronting our fiscal problems with specific cuts will be very painful, but the alternatives of much higher taxes or a future default by the federal government are worse.

Colorado families know that if they are in a little debt, they can be selective where they decrease spending to balance their budget. Colorado families also realize that if they are in deep debt they must cut spending in every area. Our country is in deep debt and going deeper. All areas must be considered in bringing our country out of this deep ruinous debt. Here is my plan:

Eliminate four cabinet departments: Agriculture, Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development. Move food assistance programs (mainly food stamps) out of the Agriculture Department and move nuclear security spending out of the Energy Department. Save $198 billion per year, about 14% of the deficit.

End the wars and halve remaining security spending: Withdraw immediately and totally from Iraq and Afghanistan. Cut remaining military, homeland security, and intelligence spending in half.
Save $489 billion per year, about 35% of the deficit.

End or drastically cut many other federal programs: End federal spending on foreign aid, space programs, small business, art and media, Amtrak, and most scientific or medical research. Eliminate most grants and subsidies (not counting entitlements, discussed below). Cut spending in various departments
by 10% (Veterans Affairs) to 50% (Justice). Save $242 billion per year, about 17% of the deficit.

Transfer non-aged entitlement programs to the states: Over a four-year period, transfer complete responsibility to the states for Medicaid/SCHIP, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other food assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Immediately convert all these programs to cash grants to the states without restrictions on how the states design or administer replacement programs. Give the states 100%, 75%, 50%, and then 25% of the converted amounts over the first four years. After those four years the federal government will provide no funds.
Save $567 billion per year when fully phased in, about 40% of the deficit.

These four proposals cut the deficit by two thirds in the first year and balance the budget completely within four years, producing a budget surplus. Two other proposals will balance the budget for decades to come and make balanced budgets permanent.

Keep Social Security and Medicare from bankrupting America: Quickly increase the Social Security normal retirement age to 70 over the next ten years. Index initial Social Security benefits to prices, not wages. Convert Medicare to a high-deductible plan with deductibles of 10% of income. Saves about $90 billion per year immediately in Medicare spending and saves trillions of dollars in future decades.

Make fiscal discipline permanent: Enact a strong Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Restore the President’s power to impound spending, used by Presidents from Jefferson to Nixon. Enact a line item veto, restore PAYGO rules, end Congressional earmarks, and prohibit federal lending, loan subsidies, or loan guarantees for private persons or companies.

Pay off the national debt: It could take thirty years, but leave our grandchildren a debt-free America.