Finding ways to run government more efficiently is all the rage these days.
President-elect Donald Trump has charged Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with cutting federal spending. The pair said in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won’t just write reports or cut ribbons. We’ll cut costs.”
West Virginia Governor-elect Patrick Morrisey said repeatedly during the campaign that there are savings to be had in state government. “I would begin on day one with an audit of all the state agencies to try to get to the bottom of how we can find efficiencies,” Morrisey said during a pre-election debate.
Government, by nature, is not efficient. Agencies do not have to make a profit, so there is no motivation to be economical. As the late politician Eugene McCarthy said, “The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.”
The challenge for Musk and Ramaswamy is finding savings where it really counts. They say they will start with all the federal regulations that carry with them administrators and spending. As CNN commentator Fareed Zakaria wrote, “There are more than 180,000 pages of federal regulations. Surely it’s worth taking a closer look at them and retiring many.”
But the real money is in mandatory programs. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance make up 60 percent of the federal budget. Defense, which is discretionary, is about 13 percent. Interest on the debt is another ten percent. Also, that spending is approved by Congress so it will be hard for Musk and Ramaswamy to get their hands on it.
But they deserve their shot. Federal spending IS out of control. The federal government spent $6.75 trillion this past fiscal year, nearly $2 trillion more than it collected in taxes. The federal debt is $36 trillion and growing by the second.
By contrast, West Virginia state government, by law, cannot run a deficit so spending cannot exceed revenue. However, that does not mean state government is operating like a well-oiled machine.
But, just like the federal government, the difficulty is in finding substantial operational savings. The general revenue budget for this fiscal year is $5 billion. Public education takes up the biggest chunk at $2.3 billion, higher ed gets $473 million, Health and Human Services another $844 million, health facilities $218 million, corrections, jails, prisons, State Police and all Homeland Security about $529 million.
Are there savings there? Probably, but finding it and getting lawmakers to go along with substantive cuts will be difficult. Spending is often associated with constituent groups who can and will pressure lawmakers.
Just like the Trump administration, the Governor-elect Morrisey deserves his chance to find significant savings, but it won’t be easy.