As Congress navigates the task of reducing the federal budget deficit, the national debt stands at over $36 trillion, with an annual budget deficit of $711 billion. In this brief, we focus on Republican proposals for substantial deficit reduction. We also consider potential opposition within the party to these measures. Our next brief on major spending cuts will focus on proposals from Democrat legislators.

Republican legislators, now fully in control of both chambers of Congress, are set on making good on campaign promises to reign in federal spending. Over the next few months, Everything Policy will analyze deficit reduction proposals from both parties, offering a facts-first analysis of expected savings and real-world impacts. This first brief shows how the budgeting process used by Congress can work against building partisan consensus around deficit reduction.

Every year, federal bureaucrats implement roughly 100 major policy changes through a process known as rulemaking. At first glance, rulemaking seems like a way to bypass elected officials and make policies away from public attention. Why do bureaucrats have this power? What safeguards exist to prevent bureaucrats from misusing their authority?