To review government programs for waste, fraud and abuse, he has named entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to recommend expenditures that can be eliminated. They are to be commended for undertaking this courageous act.
After all, the first rule of the bureaucracy is the defense of the bureaucracy.
It’s been tried before. Jimmy Carter tried to audit the government. He finally gave up after the bureaucracy mounted a counter offensive. So did Ronald Reagan with the Grace Commission. As did Clinton with this commission headed by Vice President Al Gore tried to cut the federal bureaucracy. Each effort died aborning.
But ever since President-elect Trump announced the formation of this committee, there has been an outpouring of suggestions of spending that can be curtailed. Some of these include: the Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, international organizations, and many others.
According to a Wall Street Journal op-ed they co-authored, they want to curb the regulatory power of executive agencies and return it to Congress. The same needs to be done with executive agencies and grantmaking power. Or to try a Federalism approach and send power back to the stated when it belongs.
One sector that Musk and Ramaswamy must consider is federal subsidies of nuclear power initiated by Joe Biden.
In 2022, the US spent $29.4 billion on energy subsidies, which included: $8.7 billion in "end-use" subsidies, such as financial assistance for low-income households, home energy efficiency, and electric vehicles; $481 million for environmental conservation, and $20.2 billion in tax breaks.
The nuclear energy industry has come to expect subsidies as an entitlement program.
One of the biggest gifts to the nuclear industry was Biden’s so called Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022.
As a research paper from the Cato Institute explains, nuclear energy is very “capital intensive.” It requires high construction and start-up capital before any energy is generated.
The nuclear industry shows no signs of stopping its quest for taxpayer subsidies.
Earlier this year, Congress passed a 40-year extension to the Price-Anderson Act. If there were a disaster at one of the nuclear plants, the industry would be responsible for the first $16.1 billion in damage. The taxpayers would be responsible for the rest.
According to an article in TechCrunch, “Nuclear startup Kairos Power (which will be a supplier for Google) received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to start construction on two test reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.”
The small modular reactor startup, has received a $303 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy. It is also time to remove these financial decisions from executive agencies and return them to Congress.
The recent deals for nuclear power that have been struck by Google and Microsoft would have been more difficult than without them. However, isn’t every start-up business a risk? Why not sell bonds to investors who believe in using nuclear power, and let the free market work?
Microsoft has a market capitalization of three trillion dollars. Google has a market capitalization of slightly more than two trillion dollars. In order to build upon this success, these companies must reinvest their gains. They can also consider smaller energy projects. Without the taxpayer paying for it.
For too long, the American taxpayer has been footing the bill. Google and Microsoft made their early investors rich. Let them attract new investors with this new opportunity.
