Since the first administration of Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. government has expanded markedly. As one agency after another has been added, few have been disbanded.
Meanwhile, the bureaucrats who run such agencies become skilled at justifying their existence, influencing key members of Congress, and seeking more money.
Draining the Treasury
The Left bemoans President Trump's plans to scale back the Department of Education and eventually eliminate it, and yet citizens on both the Left and Right are largely unaware of 1,503 government agencies, offices, departments, or programs that accomplish little or nothing, other than to drain funds from the Treasury.
Independent of the revelations exposed by DOGE thus far, many of these entities are unfettered by scrutiny that would otherwise end them. Most of these entities have exceeded their expiration dates and should be gone by now.
Of the 1,503 living-dead agencies, almost 50% were slated to expire more than ten years ago. Nearly one-third of them continue to receive funding, collectively to the tune of more than $500 billion. As for the other two-thirds, it is difficult to determine how much money they suck from the U.S. Treasury.
By some estimates they consume at least 1/12 of the U.S. total budget. Heading into fiscal year 2026, 155 agencies are due for de-authorization. Most will continue to operate, unimpeded, because no one is on top of the issue: the inaction of Congress enables agencies to live on whether or not they produce any viable results.
Decades in the Making
The Federal Election Commission (FEC), for example, was authorized to spend a bit more than $9 million annually, leading up to its expiration in 1981. Now, 44 years later, the FEC, times ten, continues to be funded and last year spent $95 million. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), spending almost $340 million annually, was slated to fold in 2000, but 24 years later spent more than $28 billion.
How can this happen not simply for years, but for decades?
And, not merely for more money than originally authorized, but for 82 times more? In fairness, not all such programs are useless.
A small fraction has provided discernible benefit while the majority should have vanished from the scene years ago. One cannot necessarily blame the respective program directors. Their quest for survival is somewhat understandable. The blame is squarely on Congress.
Who among our 100 senators and 435 congressional representatives is watching the expiration dates? Why are these programs rubber-stamped year after year?
Oversee, not Overlook
The responsibility of Congress doesn't cease when funds are first allocated. Congress has the responsibility to oversee these programs. When Congress is deficient in doing so, members have no right to complain when, say, DOGE or other cabinet level agencies take the reins. How deficient can Congress be? Its dereliction of duty as our national debt rises to $37 trillion is a crime against all that we hold dear – against the U.S. Constitution, American taxpayers, our way of life, and the future of our children and grandchildren.
In his second four-year term Donald Trump already is accomplishing a great deal. As intended, DOGE has exposed much waste. Will our elected representatives step up and do their jobs? America needs and deserves to know. Moreover, Americans deserve congressional representatives who actually look out for the nation's finances.
Every Dollar Counts
Every dollar, let alone billions of dollars, allocated to programs that should have long been axed is an assault on our way of life. The cumulative price tag is a tax on the middle class. The waste threatens our solvency and impacts our national credit rating.
The time has come for Congress to clean house. Under the leadership of President Trump and the dedicated DOGE professionals who are seeking to put the U.S. back on a firm financial footing, we all need to support this effort. To do less, or to do nothing, is to send us spiraling into even greater levels of debt which, eventually, will imperil everyone.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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