Green Scissors 2011 identifies wasteful government subsidies that are damaging to the environment and could end up costing taxpayers more than $380 billion.
Green Scissors 2011 builds on last year’s report by advancing cuts that could potentially save taxpayers $380 billion or more over five years. The report makes the case that the federal government can help protect our natural resources, reduce the growth of government spending, and make a significant dent in the national debt by eliminating harmful spending.
The Green Scissors report finds cuts in energy, agriculture, transportation, and land and water projects. Targets include massive giveaways of publicly-owned resources such as timber, oil and natural gas and minerals, poorly conceived road projects and a bevy of questionable Army Corps of Engineers water projects.
As highlighted in the report, the federal government could end the following programs and save the United States:
- $72,000,000,000 for general revenue transfers to the Highway Trust Fund,
- $30,000,000,000 for crop insurance, and
- $4, 820,000,000 for Oil and Gas Royalty relief.
Friends of the Earth has been working on identifying and eliminating environmentally harmful spending with the Green Scissors report since 1995, and Taxpayers for Common Sense has been our partner for 15 years. Public Citizen joined the coalition in 2010, and The Heartland Institute joined the coalition for Green Scissors 2011, after endorsing the 2010 report. All four of our groups have different missions and different views about the role of government, but Green Scissors represents some key areas where we all can agree.
Green_Scissors_2011 (pdf) | coalition press release | telenews conference audio
