Conservative Action Project

The Conservative Movement wholeheartedly supports President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal.

Any budget is a series of compromises, between what is ideal and what is achievable. Conservatives know that Rome wasn’t built — or burned — in a day. Nevertheless, the Conservative Movement rightly expected the Trump administration to start any budget negotiations closer to the ideal than any administration has been able to for decades.

And that is what it has done. The proposed budget is a major step in the right direction, even though it does not save a lot of money compared to the total budget. But even the savings it does achieve, one percent, just 1%, of the discretionary budget, is a major achievement. Most budgets increase spending. This one shrinks it.

Critics will cry foul: they will say the cuts are draconian. But it simply cannot be that the country cannot survive a 1 percent reduction in the discretionary budget. Families across America do that, and a lot more besides, every year. This budget will demonstrate that it is possible to cut spending without having the oceans begin to rise or the planet beginning to suffer.

And even though the budget is still high, how the money is saved is significant. It is saved by eliminating programs that have no constitutional justification, thereby returning the government of the country to its proper constitutional basis. That in itself is a major achievement and one that conservatives can build on in the future.

This budget eliminates all $148 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, all $148 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the $230 million Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the $445 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including PBS and NPR. $445 million may not seem like a lot of money to some congressmen, but many Americans go their entire lives without seeing that kind of money.

And in addition, the budget completely eliminates the following agencies:

African Development Foundation
Appalachian Regional Commission
Chemical Safety Board
Corporation for National and Community Service
Delta Regional Authority
Denali Commission
Inter-American Foundation
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
Legal Services Corporation
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
Northern Border Regional Commission
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
U.S. Institute of Peace
U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The conservative joke going around Washington these days is, “What do you call the elimination of 19 federal agencies?” You guessed it: “A beginning.”

This is a budget conservatives are happy to support enthusiastically.

The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
The Honorable Bob McEwen
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
William L. Walton
Vice President
Council for National Policy
The Honorable Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.
The Honorable David McIntosh
President
Club for Growth
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Former Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
Conservative Attorney
Ed Corrigan
Former Executive Director
Senate Steering Committee
Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
Neil Patel
Co-Founder and Publisher
The Daily Caller
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Jenny Beth Martin
Co-Founder and CEO
Tea Party Patriots
The Honorable James C. Miller III
Budget Director
President Reagan (1985-1988)
Charlie Cato
Chairman
Leading The Way PAC
Alan P. Dye
Partner
Webster, Chamberlain & Bean
Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Ginni Thomas
President
Liberty Consulting
James P. Backlin
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
Christian Coalition of America
Floyd Brown
Chairman
Western Center for Journalism
Willes K. Lee
President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Dan Greenberg
President
Advance Arkansas Institute
Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Adam Brandon
President
FreedomWorks
Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.
Washington Bureau Chief
Infowars.com
Christopher Malagisi
President
Young Conservatives Coalition
Rick Scarborough
Founder
Vision America Action
Joseph A. Morris
Partner
Morris & De La Rosa
Patrick Foose
Director of Communications
Life Issues Institute
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Heather R. Higgins
President and CEO
Independent Women’s Voice
Sabrina Schaeffer
Executive Director
Independent Women’s Forum
Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Haley E. Martin
President
The Martin Foundation
Rod D. Martin
Founder/CEO
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Sherri R. Martin
Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the American Future
Evelio Silvera
Campaign for the American Future
Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly
Shawn A. Mitchell
National Chaplain, National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Grover Glenn Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Peter J. Thomas
Chairman
Americans for Constitutional Liberty
Kenneth F. Boehm
Chairman
National Legal and Policy Center
Charlie Gerow
Vice Chairman
American Conservative Union
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D
Board Chair
Institute on Religion and Democracy and Board Executive Committee, World Congress of Families
Lou Cordia
Cordia and Associates
Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation
L. Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli II
President
Senate Conservatives Fund
Lisa Calvert
Christian Speaker and Teacher
Rabon-Calvert Interests
Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith
Gayle Trotter
President
American Women’s Alliance
The Honorable Belden Bell
Cochair Legacy Society
Heritage Foundation
William W. Pascoe, III
Managing Partner
Antietam Communications
Kevin D. Freeman
Founder
NSIC Institute
Allen Hebert
Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston
The Honorable Terrence Scanlon
Retired President and Chairman
Capital Research Center
James L. Martin
Chairman
60 Plus Association
Susan A. Carleson
Support
American Civil Rights Union
Susan Walton Gore
Founder
Wyoming Liberty Group, Pillar of Law Institute
Eunie Smith
President
Eagle Forum
Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation
Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum
The Honorable Mike Spence
Founding President
Conservative Republicans of California
Thomas A. Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste
Michael J. Bowen
CEO
Coalition for a Strong America
Lisa B. Nelson
Chief Executive Officer
The Jeffersonian Project
Dee Hodges
President
Maryland Taxpayers Association
Sandy Rios
Director of Governmental Affairs
American Family Association
The Honorable Michael R. Long
State Chairman
New York State Conservative Party
James C. Dobson Ph.D.
Founder & President
Family Talk
Robert D. Thompson
Former Administrator
The Weyrich Lunch
Troy Newman
President, Operation Rescue
Co-Founder, Center for Medical Progress
Bob Carlstrom
President
The Carlstrom Group, LLC
Dan Weber
CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens
Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC
Taylor Budowich
Executive Director
Tea Party Express
Tim LeFever
Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute
Joseph R. Gregory
President and CEO
Gregory Mgt. Co.
Richard H. Wright
Richard G. Lee
President
There’s Hope America, Atlanta, GA
Marcia G. Taylor
CEO
Bennett Int. Group, Inc.
Michael K. Taylor
Bennett Int. Group, Inc.
The Honorable Martin W. Garrick
President
Admiral Property Company
Richard Scurry
Co-Founder
The Bible Literacy Project
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Lee A. Beaman
Chief Executive Officer
Beaman Automotive
Raymond Thompson
CEO
Thompson Precision
Lew Uhler
President
National Tax Limitation Committee
Richard A. Viguerie
Chairman
ConservativeHQ
Richard P. Bott, II
Chairman/CEO
Bott Radio Network
Richard P. Bott, Sr.
Founder
Bott Radio Network
Gary A. Marx
President
Madison Strategies, LLC.
Ted Baehr
Chairman and CEO
Movieguide®
Richard Falknor
Publisher
Blue Ridge Forum
The Honorable Tom DeLay
Former Majority Leader
US House of Representatives
J. Keet Lewis, III
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Lewis Group International
Diana Banister
President and Partner
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs