Ron Paul released his “plan to restore America” as part of his 2012 Presidential campaign on Monday. The plan is a proposal that contains a myriad of spending cuts, some of which are directly related to federal employees.
Under the spending category, it proposes massive cuts among which include eliminating five cabinet departments: Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, and Education. The plan proposes some specific spending cuts to a number of other federal agencies as well, mainly by returning agency spending to 2006 levels. Those cuts include:
- DoD – 15% total reduction; all war funding ended
- Privatizing the FAA and TSA
- DOJ – eliminating the Office of Justice, Justice Assistance, and Juvenile Justice programs
- USDA – eliminating research and education activities, Foreign Agriculture Service, and food stamps (supplemental nutrition)
- EPA – 30% reduction in budget
The VA is the only agency listed that would have its spending retained at current levels under the program.
The plan would also make a 10% reduction in the federal workforce. While it doesn’t say how this would be achieved, other recent cost cutting proposals that have mentioned this aim to do it through attrition, so presumably this suggestion would follow the same model. Excessive federal travel and Congressional pay and perks would also be cut, but again, no specifics are mentioned. It does say that reducing federal travel is estimated to save $6.5 – $7 billion per year though 2015.
While no narrative is provided about them, there is mention of other cuts that would target the federal workforce. The report lists estimated savings that would be realized by freezing federal pay, apparently through at least 2016. The estimated savings from this action are $2.5 billion in 2013 and $3 billion per year for the three years thereafter. The plan also contains a line item for savings from banning union projects (no specifics listed) saying that the estimated savings from this would be $2 billion per year through 2016.
Paul also notes that he would not exclude himself from the cuts, proposing to cut his salary to $39,336 per year if he were elected President. The President currently earns $400,000 a year so this would be a substantial cut. That particular number was chosen because its roughly equal to the median individual income of the average American worker.
Obviously the proposed cuts in this plan are not likely to be enacted unless Paul is elected President. Considering some of the latest poll numbers show Paul at under 10%, this seems like an unlikely prospect.
