Reduce the cost of government

I recently ran across a letter from a relative that really made our federal spending habits hit home. Below is a quote from the end of this letter -

“A Congress like the last one would be bankrupt in any other land. They spend millions like it is paper money. The richness & size of the nation alone makes one fearful of the way money is handled. It is high time that we become more conservative in fiscal matters. Enough about politics!”

What strikes me is that this letter was written Sept. 5, 1866. Yes — 1866! This young man had just finished fighting in the Civil War. And 156 years later, nothing has changed — except the numbers are bigger.

I'm sure Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy will eventually come to some agreement to remove a few dollars from the trillion-dollar debacle, giving the Republicans a moral victory that we reduced the spending. But our nation's debt will still continue to climb and Congress will agree to increase the debt ceiling. When will Congress say no to increased spending? When will we look at what it costs to run the agencies, bureaus, departments, etc. within the federal government?

As I’ve always maintained, the federal government is the largest business in the world, and if we ran it more like a business we would spend time looking for ways to reduce operating costs without reducing programming. With over 2 million people employed by the federal government, we have opportunities to reduce costs.

Roger Helmrichs

Dundee