The Daily Dozen

Questions That Demand Real Answers, Every Day

Developing a National Dialogue, Focusing on Priorities for Action

This Administration loves to fill the public space and airwaves with claims of great progress and charges of malfeasance and waste on the part of others. Such pronouncements should be challenged, specifically and personally to those with responsibilities within the government.

These questions should be raised now, by the shadow cabinet (where the heck is that thing?!) and by citizens at town meetings, protests, etc. The greatest value comes when they are raised in sworn in Congressional testimony by a Congress doing its oversight duties.

Hope that the midterm elections result in at least one house of Congress ready to perform those duties, without any further delay. Given any  opportunity, Administration representatives and supporters should be asked the following questions, with specific responses required and well publicized.

Let The Questioning Begin

1. Show me the math that determined how much you save with these cuts: The Administration has said that its actual or proposed cuts in this area save X amount of money. Walk us through the specific math that yields that number.
2. The Administration (and you) have said cuts are aimed at eliminating waste and abuse: Prove it. Show us the analysis and math that proves waste and abuse in this are on the scale of the cuts you wish to make. DOGE completely failed to do this. What are you prepared to provide in actual data?
3. What services are likely to be cut, to whom? Cuts of this magnitude, including personnel reductions, mean some services will no longer be available or will be greatly reduced. What services will be eliminated or reduced, affecting what populations. On the personnel reductions, what are the effects on local economies?
4. What burden goes to the states, by directive or default? It is obvious that cuts like those proposed for FEMA and Medicaid pass the burdens to the states. For on, that states would have to pick up and how likely is this burden likely to mean the services will not exist going forward.

   Disaster relief and other programs are classic examples of “national insurance,” of the country coming together to help a given state not be overwhelmed with a disaster too large for one state to manage. Why are we abandoning our neighbors in their hour of need by making these cuts?

Some More Questions Along These Lines

    5. What scientific or medical research and warnings capabilities will be cut by these
reductions? America has long been a leader in medical and technical research,
results underwritten by federal investments in these areas.

What proposed or ongoing research will be stopped by the cuts of this
Administration? Why is progress in these areas considered by you an
acceptable cost to save some money?

6. How does the resulting structure/service compare with all other advanced economies? Almost all countries with advanced economies consider the areas we are discussing here today as national priorities, to be underwritten at the national level, raising the quality of life for its citizens.

   With the proposed/actual cuts of this Administration, how does the US compare to the rest of, say, the G20 in terms of resources and outcomes?

7. What do the CBO and other independent evaluators say about your cuts? If you disagree with those assessments, what analysis causes you to have assumptions different from all those other experts?
8. Is this area you have proposed a legitimate govt function in your view? All cuts would make sense for someone who thinks government does not have a proper role in this area. Is that the case for you and for this Administration? If so, tell us why you think this is so and if so, who – if anyone – should provide such capabilities?

How About These Questions?

6. What are the measured effects of cuts done so far? The evidence so far seems to indicate that the cuts already made have resulted in very little savings and in some cases, have actually raised costs and led to impressive levels of chaos within affected organizations. We have seen no evidence of improved efficiencies with these cuts anywhere. Can you offer any specific, measured results to the contrary?
7. What steps are being taken treat civil servants decently? We hear of those whose jobs are cut that they often get no notice and are told to vacate their offices within a couple of hours. Why is this considered acceptable, and what steps are you taking to minimize the effects of these reductions on local economies?
8. How Do You Justify Trickle Down Redistribution? Your party has, for at least the last 50 years, justified huge tax breaks for the wealthy and for large corporations on the basis that this will lead to investments by them in jobs and the economy. In the entire life cycle of no administration has this come true. Why do you think it would this time?

9. How Best to Deal With the Deficit? The national deficit is fast approaching unsustainable levels. Both parties have talked about dealing with this, neither has done so. In President’s Trump’s first term, he increased the deficit more than all his predecessors combined. This time around, expert consensus is that he will do even worse in this round, burdening future generations unacceptably. US bond sales are already weakening, demonstrating a global loss of confidence in America’s ability to manage itself under Trump.

No serious person believes it is possible to cut to a balanced budget. We tax the
super wealthy and corporations far less than any other developed country. For
example, corporations contribute only 11% of US tax revenues- the vast majority
of taxes are paid by individuals and by wage taxes.

Why should these privileged elements continue to get a free ride, rather than
helping the country be more fiscally responsible?

 See What Needs To Be Done?

The whole point of questions like this is to ensure accountability, transparency, and factual justifications for decisions made. Making this level of engagement and public knowledge happen is a key role of Congress, one that is completely missing currently.

Getting this back on track will inform our citizens and make those in power responsible, personally and institutionally.

We are not very good at national dialogues. We tend to go quickly into shouting matches. I remember painfully how this happened when the Clinton administration fostered a national dialogue on health care. It was quickly overtaken by extremists and insurance industry shills. Same thing happened over Obama Care. It is ugly. We can and should do better.

 How about you, dear reader? Have a question you would like to see Administration officials address publicly and clearly? What are we missing with this list so far?

Bill Clontz

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