Letter to the House: Cosponsor Rep. Brady’s Federal Sunset Act to Eliminate Wasteful Programs

Dear Representative,

On behalf of over one million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to cosponsor Rep. Brady’s (R-TX) The Federal Sunset Act. The bill would eliminate duplicative and wasteful government programs by assigning a sunset date to all federal agencies. In order for a federal program to continue, it must be deemed worthy through a commission process. The Federal Sunset Act could save taxpayers billions of dollars.

As Noble Prize winning economist Milton Friedman said “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a recent report found hundreds of duplicative programs in 34 different areas. For instance, the federal government has 20 agencies concerned with reducing reliance on petroleum, over 21,000 federal data centers and 17 different disaster grants. All the duplicative programs identified by the GAO represent over $100 billion in annual losses to taxpayers.

The Sunset Commission will review each federal agency and their programs to identity wasteful efforts. After careful evaluation, the committee would report their findings to Congress with recommendations on whether the federal program should be extended or eliminated. On the state level, similar sunset commissions in 24 states have been successful. In Texas alone, their sunset commission has resulted in over $787 million in savings.

With our national debt over $14 trillion, every effort must be made to rein in excess federal spending. It’s urgent that you cut the federal bureaucracy for the sake of our future prosperity. Reducing government waste and making federal programs accountable to taxpayers should be an issue that transcends party lines. I urge you to cosponsor Rep. Brady’s The Federal Sunset Act today.

Sincerely,
 
Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks
[Click here for a pdf version of this letter.]