Can the Swamp be Drained?

Discretionary spending accounts for over a quarter of annual federal government spending and is subject to the whims of Congress on a yearly basis.

In 1999 discretionary spending amounted to $572 Billion, in 2023 $1.72 trillion, or an increase of 200% while the cumulative rate of inflation since 1999 is 82%. 2023 discretionary spending was larger than the annual gross domestic product of Australia or South Korea.

There is virtually no appetite in Washington, D.C. to cut spending as numerous companies and countless organizations are feeding from the seemingly bottomless trough continuously being replenished by 535 mostly self-serving members of Congress who will not curtail spending as they benefit from sizeable political donations from 13,000 lobbyists spending over $4 billion a year, the millions of dollars in unaccountable "Dark money," and the personal profit from insider information.

Then there are the 430 departments, agencies, and sub-agencies and the millions of federal employees issuing regulations and edicts while effectively distributing or spending unfathomable sums of money.

Finally, there is the increasingly Left-leaning federal judiciary which will be sympathetic to legal actions filed in opposition to any executive orders issued by Trump to dismiss vast numbers of federal employees or to curb the spending, regulatory, intelligence gathering, and audit powers of any government agency.

The judiciary will stymie virtually any attempt to use executive orders to "Drain the swamp." The leviathan that is the "Swamp" has been allowed to grow to the point where it cannot be drained on an incremental basis.

Government has become so large and corrupt that the only means of potentially "Draining the"swamp" is by abolishing entire departments and agencies, thus reducing discretionary spending and potentially eliminating corruption.

The citizenry, while claiming to be upset that the government is too big or intrusive, needs to elect to Congress those pledged to reduce spending and corruption.

If Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and candidates running for Congress campaign on "Draining the swamp" they must lay out the following plan on how to accomplish it.

All 430 departments, agencies, and sub-agencies were created by acts of Congress and signed into law by the president; therefore, Congress and the president can eliminate and/or restructure any or all of them.

If Trump regains the White House and the Republicans win control of Congress and they fail to do what is necessary to fulfill their pledge to "drain the swamp" then the "Swamp" will continue to grow incrementally larger, become more corrupt and intrusive, and evolve into being essentially drain-proof. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/can_the_swamp_be_drained.html