{"id":2008988,"date":"2023-08-23T06:37:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-on-eliminating-departments\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T06:43:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:43:15","slug":"up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-on-eliminating-departments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-on-eliminating-departments\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate: Trump, DeSantis, and GOP 2024 candidates discuss axing departments."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fup-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-on-eliminating-departments%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2008988&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The First Republican Presidential Debate: Examining \u200bthe Push\u200c to Eliminate Federal \u200dDepartments<\/h2>\n<p>The first Republican presidential debate is fast\u200c approaching on Aug. 23, when \u2064candidates will hope\u200c to close the gap on\u2062 former\u200b President \u200cDonald Trump and separate from the\u2062 rest of the pack. In this series, <em>Up For Debate<\/em>, the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> will look at a key issue or\u2062 policy every day up until debate day and where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-other-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-the-impeachment-of-joe-biden\/\" title=\"2024 GOP hopefuls' stance on Biden's impeachment: A topic of discussion.\">key candidates stand<\/a>. Today&#8217;s story will\u200d examine eliminating federal departments.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>A\u2063 Famous Debate Gaffe and the Idea of Scrapping Government Agencies<\/h3>\n<p>One of the most \u2063famous debate gaffes in recent memory concerned which federal departments a Republican\u2064 candidate wanted to eliminate.<\/p>\n<p>Then-Texas Gov. Rick \u2062Perry was listing the three agencies\u200c he wanted\u2064 to scrap \u2014 or trying to. After rattling off the departments of Commerce and Education, he\u200c struggled to find the third, which was later revealed to be the Department\u200d of Energy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oops,&#8221; he said, in a moment credited with ending his 2012 run.<\/p>\n<p>But it was probably\u2064 inevitable that there would be at least one viral\u2064 moment involving a Republican and the idea of scrapping government agencies. The \u2064concept is embedded within conservative small-government principles and is a perennial favorite for GOP\u200c hopefuls \u2014 though\u200b departments\u2063 rarely get canned even\u2063 when a Republican\u200d wins.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This cycle&#8217;s crop of \u200bGOPers is no exception,\u2064 proposing\u200b to slash \u200ba host of departments ranging from perennial favorite Department of Education all the way to the 161-year-old Internal Revenue Service. Here&#8217;s where some of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-trump-has-an-edge-in-california-gop-primary-after-state-rule-change\/\" title=\"Trump gains advantage in California GOP primary due to state rule change.\">top candidates stand<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Donald Trump<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-on-jan-6-protests-posed-zero-threat-to-those-inside\/\" title=\"President Trump on Jan. 6 Protests: Posed \u2018zero threat\u2019 to those inside\">45th president called<\/a> for slashing 19 independent federal agencies\u2064 during his \u200dterm in\u2064 the White House, and like \u2062other recent Republican presidents was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the\u200c last significant moves in this space\u200b came during the presidency of Democrat\u2064 Bill Clinton. Newt Gingrich and the Republican-led Congress helped eliminate the Office of Technology Assessment and the Interstate Commerce Commission \u2063in\u2064 the mid-1990s, though neither was a Cabinet-level department.<\/p>\n<p>Recent Republican presidents have \u200cbeen more \u2063likely to create new agencies than eliminate them. Ronald Reagan created the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988, while George \u2062W. Bush formed the Department of Homeland Security \u2063in 2002.<\/p>\n<p>Trump put forward a budget that would have zeroed \u2064out funding for \u2064well over \u200da dozen smaller, sub-Cabinet-level agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican-controlled\u2063 Congress had skeptics, and none got defunded. Trump also\u200d placed\u2063 Perry in charge of the Department of Energy, the one he infamously forgot to name in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s team did not respond to a request for comment for this story.<\/p>\n<h3>Ron DeSantis<\/h3>\n<p>DeSantis is building a\u200d reputation as\u200c a policy wonk and made waves last month by calling to eliminate the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida governor told Fox News \u2064host Martha MacCallum he wants to eliminate the Perry trio of Energy, Commerce, and Education, then surprised her by also mentioning the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Eliminate the IRS?&#8221; she asked.<\/p>\n<p>He then explained further.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What I\u2019m also going to do, Martha, is be prepared if Congress won\u2019t go that far,&#8221; DeSantis\u200b said. &#8220;I\u2019m \u200cgoing to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping into all institutions of American life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As an example,\u2063 DeSantis \u2063said he&#8217;d reverse &#8220;all the transgender \u2063sports \u2064stuff&#8221; at the \u200cEducation Department, even if the \u200bagency itself lives on. &#8220;Either way, it will be a\u200d win\u2064 for conservatives,&#8221; he added. Like many conservatives, he believes education policy should \u2062be handled at the state and local levels.<\/p>\n<p>Eliminating\u2064 a federal agency would be transformative. The IRS alone employs nearly 80,000 people, \u2062while the Commerce Department employs more than 47,000. The \u2063departments of Energy and Education combined have a workforce \u200cof about 20,000.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis isn&#8217;t \u2063the \u2064first to target the IRS.\u2063 Republican nominee Bob Dole vowed during his 1996 presidential run to abolish\u2064 the IRS, but he did not get the chance after losing \u200bto Clinton. Getting such a proposal past Congress would be tricky at best, even if DeSantis wins the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, DeSantis had said he would take on the federal bureaucracy by moving some agencies outside of Washington, D.C., where he\u200c said too much power is\u200d concentrated.<\/p>\n<h3>Tim Scott<\/h3>\n<p>The South Carolina Senator has proposed eliminating political appointments \u2063in the \u200dDepartment of Justice to address \u2062what\u2064 Republicans describe as a two-tiered system of law enforcement. He \u2064also wants to reform &#8220;the bones&#8221; of the FBI to address that\u2064 agency&#8217;s\u200b shortcomings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the culture is so corrosive and so\u200b toxic, you have to purge out that culture to\u200c restore confidence,&#8221; he told Breitbart.<\/p>\n<p>Like DeSantis, Scott \u200dwould also like to decentralize the government in\u200c locations outside of Washington.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would literally\u200b take\u200c the EPA and\u200d send it to \u2063Alabama or to\u2063 another state,&#8221; he told radio show host Jeff Angelo. &#8220;I\u200b would\u2062 take the FDA and send it to maybe Maryland, or Virginia, or beyond. I would actually break up this monopoly of Washington being the location, the epicenter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Scott further proposed &#8220;starving&#8221; other departments \u200dand focusing more on states&#8217; rights as outlined in the 10th Amendment. He named the Department of Education as an agency to starve in order to send more money to states and students, though he did not \u200cpropose eliminating it entirely.<\/p>\n<h3>Nikki Haley<\/h3>\n<p>Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has outlined\u2064 more generalized plans to cut waste and spending while preventing a \u200dpermanent bureaucracy, without\u200b taking the axe to any individual department.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would send a team into\u2064 every single agency and tell them to cut\u200d regulations, cut bureaucracy, take out any people that\u2064 are [a] problem,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And I would make sure that people\u2064 who work in agencies have to work [no more than] five years in one\u2064 job, and they have to rotate to other jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We can&#8217;t \u2063have any fiefdoms or power structures there,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p>A five-year rotation policy would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-on-eliminating-departments\/\" title=\"Debate: Trump, DeSantis, and GOP 2024 candidates discuss axing departments.\">prevent decadeslong bureaucratic tenures<\/a> like that of \u200cAnthony Fauci, a conservative punching bag who led\u2062 the National Institute of\u2062 Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 36 years. Not coincidentally, frequent Fauci\u200d critic\u200d Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has proposed scrapping that agency.<\/p>\n<h3>Vivek Ramaswamy<\/h3>\n<p>The\u2062 energetic 38-year-old has been one of the surprises of\u200b the campaign cycle so far, rising into third\u200d place behind Trump and DeSantis.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaswamy has laid out detailed plans \u200bto cut three\u200b agencies \u2014\u2062 the FBI, Nuclear Regulatory\u200d Commission, and Department of Education. He \u200dalso wants to\u200c eliminate the Education Department&#8217;s role in doling out student loans and grants, sending grants to the Labor\u200c and State departments, while sending loans \u200dto Treasury. Like others, he&#8217;d also\u2063 send some of the department&#8217;s money to the\u200d states.<\/p>\n<p>He says the FBI has\u2062 too \u200cmany &#8220;professional bureaucrats&#8221; who should see the door, while those who stay \u200bwould be \u2064reassigned to seven different existing agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, he charges that \u206347% of\u2063 NRC staff is redundant, while the\u200d rest could be assigned\u2063 to other agencies. These moves, he says, would save 62% of the\u2062 NRC&#8217;s budget while speeding\u2064 up the approval \u2062process for new nuclear plants.<\/p>\n<h3>Others<\/h3>\n<p>Former \u2064Vice \u2062President Mike Pence has released a federalism plan that calls for returning money to states from\u200b the many agencies that\u200c have sprung up since the end of World \u2064War II.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe roles and responsibilities of\u200b the \u2063federal government have had a meteoric growth in modern history, which has created bloated federal spending, record inflation, and enhanced a central government structure over \u2018government by the people,\u2019\u201d Pence said at a conference in Indianapolis. &#8220;More power rests in Washington today than \u2062at any time in our \u200bhistory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not surprisingly, \u200bthis plans calls for eliminating\u200b the Department of Education and giving its money\u2063 to the \u200dstates. Pence also wants\u200c to decentralize healthcare, welfare and housing programs, and highway funding, while returning some of \u200cthe 640 million acres owned by the\u200b federal government to the states as well.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Christie&#8217;s campaign \u2064did not respond to a request for comment for this story.<\/p>\n<p>No matter who wins next year, it remains a long shot for any federal department to go extinct. Reagan entered office promising\u2062 to eliminate the departments of Energy and Education, the latter of which was\u200d just three \u2064years old\u2062 in 1981.<\/p>\n<p>House Democrats kept that plan from \u200bbecoming a reality, and Republican campaigns are\u200c still making the pledge more than 40\u200d years later.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/up-for-debate-eliminating-federal-departments\">CLICK HERE TO\u2064 READ MORE FROM \u200dTHE \u2062WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming Republican presidential debate on Aug. 23 is crucial for candidates to catch up with ex-President Donald Trump and stand out from the competition. Leading up to the debate, the Washington Examiner will analyze a significant issue or policy each day in our series, Up For Debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2008989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2008988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2008989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}