Source: Cato Institute
by Chris Edwards
“In his recent address to Congress, President Donald Trump lauded Elon Musk’s efforts to cut ‘appalling waste’ in the federal government. Musk heads the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is laying off federal workers and ending grants for research, foreign aid and other activities. Trump and Musk are cutting spending that conservatives oppose, but there’s one type of wasteful spending that nearly all taxpayers oppose — subsidies to big businesses. Why not cut there? In his address, Trump listed wasteful federal grants costing millions of dollars as being emblematic of government excess. But there are billions of dollars a year lying in wait that Trump could push Congress to cut in subsidies to agriculture, broadband, semiconductors, energy, airports, automobiles and many other industries.” (03/19/25)