Eliminating Government Waste

Dear Friend,

This afternoon, I’ll have the opportunity to visit with community college students in Meridian and speak to them about the upcoming presidential election. One of the topics we’ll discuss is attempts in Washington to modernize federal elections.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that I introduced that would end taxpayer financing of presidential campaigns and eliminate the obsolete Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Since 1976, taxpayers have spent billions of dollars subsidizing the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF), yet not a single candidate in the 2012 election cycle chose to participate in the program. Similarly, the EAC spends over 50 percent of its budget on administrative costs and has doubled in size while its legal authority continues to decline.

Dissolving these federal programs would save taxpayers $480 million over five years and immediately decrease the federal deficit by $199 million, according to nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers.

As chairman of the Elections Subcommittee,I believe these types of cuts – eliminating unutilized, non-effective programs – are exactly what we need to rein in Washington’s out-of-control spending.

God bless,

Gregg Harper

Member of Congress