Random Excerpts

• Thenext Administration should explore how VASRD reviews could be accelerated with clearance from OMB to target significant cost savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants.

The political axiom that “personnel is policy” was popularized under President Ronald Reagan during the 1981 presidential transition. One of the most important offices in the White House is the PPO, which was created under President Richard Nixon to centralize political appointments. Departments and agencies had and still have direct legal authority on hiring and firing, but the power to fill Schedule C positions—the core of political jobs—is vested with the President. Therefore, the White House, not the department or agency, has the final word on political appointments.

Historically, during Republican Administrations, the USTR has been a free trader who rarely challenged the protectionist and mercantilist policies of America’s trading partners and typically would seek to expand global trade. The Trump Administration broke this globalist Republican tradition by appointing as USTR attorney Robert E. Lighthizer, who not only had a keen understanding of the various legal levers a President can use to advance trade policy, but also was committed to the President’s fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade agenda. The next Administration should make every effort to find someone with that understanding and that commitment to fill this position.

Furthermore, the NSLP and SBP are among the most inaccurate federal programs according to PaymentAccuracy.gov, a project of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Inspector General.®*’ Before federal auditors reduced the rigor of annual reporting requirements in 2018, the NSLP had wasted nearly $2 billion in taxpayer resources through payments provided to ineligible recipients.** Even after the auditing changes, which the U.S. Government

The federal government should follow the lead of multiple state governments in removing their pension funds from fund managers such as BlackRock and State Street Global Advisers, and contract with a competitive, private-sector manager that will comply with its fiduciary duties.

Modify Regulations Implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. These acts are currently being abused at a cost to fisheries and Native American subsistence activities around the U.S.

In Chapter 25, Karen Kerrigan describes the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a “sprawling, unaccountable agency” replete with “waste, fraud, and mismanagement” and guilty of “mission creep.” Moreover, its “initiatives aimed at

Total Bank authorizations in recent years have gone from $12.6 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2007° to $21.5 billion in FY 2014* to $5.2 billion in FY 2022.° A better way to understand these numbers is to look at the amount of financial exposure the Bank has—that is, the risk the Bank takes for which taxpayers are ultimately responsible. During this same period, the Bank’s total exposure increased from $57.42 billion in FY 2007° to $112.1 billion in FY 2014’ and then fell to $41.3 billion in FY 20218 and $35.4 billion in FY 2022.°

should reorient the bulk of F staff from focusing on the formulation of the annual President’s budget proposal to the execution of already appropriated resources. This should include eliminating the duplicative Mission and Bureau Resource Requests; speeding up the availability of appropriations by delivering to Congress within 60 days the report required by Section 653(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA); and fast-tracking the approval of Congressional Notifications (CNs) and other pre-obligation requirements.

Ensuring Proper Distribution of DOJ Grant Funds. DOJ grants are an underutilized asset in most conservative Administrations. When used properly, they can be highly effective in implementing the President’s priorities. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is comprised of six components and is responsible for most DOJ grants to local law enforcement, juvenile justice, and victims of crime as well as for criminal justice research and statistics. The opportunity to support a President’s agenda may be greater through OJP grant funding than it is through any of the federal government’s other grant-making components.