Letter to the editor: Feb. 2, 2011

Americans can’t afford very much government

Just want to pass on a few tidbits from Sen. Rand Paul’s bill to eliminate $500 billion from the 2011 budget for those of you who have not read all 12 whopping pages.
Here we go …
— Collect delinquent taxes from federal employees, $3 billion. (page 11, section 22)
— Freeze federal government employee pay, $2 billion. (page 11, section 24)
Sound pretty good so far? Here’s two of a different type:
— The Department of Veterans Affairs shall not be subject to funding cuts in fiscal year 2011. (page 9, section 16)
And this:
— The Social Security Administration shall not be subject to funding cuts in fiscal year 2011. (page 11, section 2)
With that information before us now, I have two points to make.
Point number one is that this is the first federal budget bill I have seen that is simple and concise enough to understand.
Point number two is that with this bill, Sen. Rand Paul has switched the question from “What do we cut?” to “What can we afford to fund?”
With high unemployment, and interest payments on a $14 trillion debt, the simple and sensible answer is “not much.”
Michael Maggard
Richmond