WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation today released “Budget Blueprint 2022,” a comprehensive roadmap for policymakers to reduce out-of-control federal spending, restore fiscal sanity to Washington, and balance the budget in 10 years.

In recent years, federal spending exploded, and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the problem. Congress approved more than $6 trillion in additional spending since the start of the pandemic alone.

The results are predictable—rampant inflation as more dollars get pushed into circulation, a declining workforce as millions of Americans quit their jobs and rely on excessive unemployment benefits, and a burgeoning administrative state focused on more regulation and oversight of Americans’ daily lives. This increased spending and the subsequent inflation are a direct tax on working Americans.

Heritage’s “Budget Blueprint” is the solution to this economic chaos. It does far more than take aim at wasteful federal spending—it targets federal bureaucracies that do not serve the interests of the American people, and identifies areas where government assumes too much control of private life and enterprise, effectively stifling job creation and wage growth. It also targets bureaucracies like the U.S. Department of Education that work hand-in-glove with radical leftist groups to undermine American values and reshape our republic.

Heritage experts identified more than 200 reforms policymakers should implement to restore America’s fiscal future and begin to undo the damage years of fiscal recklessness wrought on families across the country. The reforms identified in the “Budget Blueprint” represent savings over the next decade.

Some highlights of the “Budget Blueprint”:

• Eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, saving $333 billion over 10 years, and more importantly, remove the federal bureaucracy from our schools.
• Reform Medicaid’s open-ended financing with a model that provides a predictable budgeted amount for different eligibility groups, saving $1.2 trillion.
• Rein in excessive retirement benefits for federal employees, which are significantly higher than those of private sector employees, saving $236 billion.
• Strengthen Social Security and address its looming insolvency by ensuring the program fulfills its intended purpose—preventing poverty in old age and allowing more opportunity for retirees, saving $830 billion.
• Cut and cap funding for the National Science Foundation’s non-defense spending, saving $29 billion.
• Eliminate $6 billion in spending on multiple United Nations initiatives and programs, including U.S. funding of U.N. peacekeeping assessments, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and others.
• Provide important investments in America’s national security by providing $97 billion in additional resources for the Army, Navy, and Air Force to protect the United States and stand up to challenges from adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party.

Matthew Dickerson, director of Heritage’s Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, released the following statement about the “Budget Blueprint”:

“The federal government is far too big, it has grown far too powerful, and as we have seen clearly since the start of the pandemic, it has become largely unaccountable to the American people. Entrenched and unelected elites spend our hard-earned tax dollars on wasteful pursuits and programs that do nothing to benefit Americans, and often actively work against our interests. The ‘Budget Blueprint’ removes any excuse for inaction. It is time for our leaders to get our country back on sound fiscal footing. The consequences of inaction are dire, as we’re increasingly seeing today.”

Heritage President Kevin Roberts also released the following statement:

“Government spending and inflation are a tax on all Americans. The fiscal decisions our government makes now and in the coming months will either enable American families to flourish or crush their financial futures. Heritage has the definitive blueprint to balance the federal budget and save us from falling off the fiscal cliff—if only our leaders in Washington, especially those claiming to carry the banner of conservative principles, will have the courage to stand up and implement that blueprint. It’s far past time we aggressively target the administrative state that has grown unchecked and end the elites’ stranglehold on our fiscal future. Conservatives should lead the charge, but I encourage anyone concerned by the economic chaos around them to join Heritage as we engage this fight.”