“The only problem with your preference is the question of whop decides what agencies are useless? How is the “useless” designation determined?”
Start with the assumption that if it’s not related to Defense/National Security (what the states are not directly responsible for) that it’s useless- (and even there do audits for waste, etc). Leave it up to the agency to prove otherwise- after a massive top-to-bottom audit. If it is determined to be “useful” after that time, then leave the bare minimum employees and funding necessary, etc.
Essentially, the people will decide through their elected representatives.
Qbert, it sounds like you’ve been thinking about this. When you say that the agency would have to “prove otherwise”, who would they be proving it *to*? The President or his/her representatives? Houses of Congress?
Take an agency like the FDA. (Being from NJ, home of the pharmaceutical industry, it’s often on my mind.) Since the Pure Food and Drug Act, it’s grown tremendously. It’s in charge of regulating over $1 trillion worth of consumer goods every year. It’s budget is a bit more than $2 billion this fiscal year. The amount is approved by Congress.
Now, some people say that it may that the FDA takes too long for approvals; it regulates too much, or not enough; it’s underfunded, over-funded, etc. Every time another 3,000 people are sickened by tomatoes from Mexico served by a fast=food firm, the demand for “more funding to the FDA!” for inspectors goes up.
Is the FDA part of the defense of the nation? (How do you define “defense” and how it’s protected - just the military?) Is it Constitutional? These aren’t questions that an audit will answer. If it’s proven - to whomever - that the agency is still useful, how would your determine what is the “bare minimum employees and funding necessary” to fulfill their mission? How would we tell that they hadn’t gotten *enough* funding - when people got sick or died from a product or a food?
If the FDA is found to be unconstitutional, what happens then - its duties are all spun off to the individual States? I was actually shocked when I read the number of offices the FDA handle:
There are
* Office of the Commissioner
* Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
* Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)
o Office of the Center Director
o Office of Communication, Education, and Radiation Programs
o Office of Compliance
o Office of Device Evaluation
o Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety
o Office of Management Operations
o Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories
o Office of Surveillance and Biometrics
* Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER)
o Office of the Center Director
+ Advisory Committee Staff
+ Controlled Substance Staff
o Office of Compliance
+ Division of Compliance Risk Management and Surveillance
+ Division of Manufacturing and Product Quality
+ Division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance
+ Division of Scientific Investigations
o Office of Medical Policy
+ Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications8
o Office of New Drugs
o Office of Nonprescription Products
o Office of Oncology Drug Products
+ Radioactive Drug Research Committee (RDRC) Program
o Office of Pharmaceutical Science
+ Office of Biotechnology Products
+ Office of Generic Drugs
+ Office of New Drug Quality Assessment
+ Office of Testing and Research
# Division of Applied Pharmacology Research
# Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis
# Division of Product Quality Research
* Informatics and Computational Safety Analysis Staff (ICSAS)
o Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology (formerly Office of Drug Safety)
o Office of Translational Sciences23
+ Office of Biostatistics
+ Office of Clinical Pharmacology
# Pharmacometrics Staff
o Division of Drug Information
+ FDA Pharmacy Student Experiential Program
o Botanical Review Team
o Maternal Health Team
* Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
* Center for Tobacco Products
* Center for Veterinary Medicine
* National Center for Toxicological Research
* Office of Regulatory Affairs
Does each state handle all these responsibilities itself in order to keep its citizens safe? Who decides that some of the offices aren’t important anymore? Can citizens sue their states if the state decides to not duplicate a dismantled Federal program, and someone gets hurt? What kind of a cost burden will this put on the States, as well as hiring demands?
Then there is the entire question of varying standards between states. What if NJ’s drugs are made honestly with no dangerous additives, and checked by NJ inspectors. Those from a nearby state are not - but are much cheaper. That’s a huge opportunity for smuggling and organized crime right there - importing in cheaper stuff and selling it as the good. Counterfeit drugs are a huge problem already. What happens if you have 50 different competing statutes? It’s the same with food.
Frankly I can see why they went for the razzle-dazzle of the symbolic gesture. It’s a hell of a lot easier to turn down an earmark than it will be to close even *one* agency - at least politically. They don’t see the upside to it when it comes to getting donations or re-elected.