Report: Cutting $2.3 Trillion of Government Waste Would Balance Budget in 3 Years

If Congress were to cut unnecessary and wasteful spending in the federal government, it could balance the budget in three years based on recommendations by Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-partisan organization.

The report, titled "Prime Cuts 2017," outlines 607 recommendations to cut inefficient government spending that would not only balance the budget within three years but also save taxpayers $336.2 billion in the first year and $2.3 trillion over five years.

"The national debt nearly doubled under former President Obama and is poised to exceed $20 trillion before the end of 2017," the group states. "Wasteful government spending can be cut and the nation can start on a path toward fiscal sanity."

The group evaluates this type of wasteful spending in nearly every agency of the federal government including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Labor Department, the Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department, and the Department of Commerce.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, if Congress were to reduce improper Medicare payments by 50 percent in five years, the department could save taxpayers $20.6 billion (about $4.1 billion per year).

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