The Heritage Foundation favors far-reaching reforms of our Federal Government’s spending, including with respect to entitlements. The ever-growing, out-of-control entitlement culture fosters dependency instead of self-reliance. At the same time, the Federal Government takes and spends an ever-growing portion of the wealth of this Nation, and spends the money of future generations. This cannot continue. We must overhaul Federal entitlement programs and get their cost under control, before the country bankrupts itself.
Although entitlement reform is essential in reining-in Federal spending, The Heritage Foundation welcomes fiscal discipline across the board. Responsible reductions in non-entitlement spending are, of course, welcome, too. Ronald Reagan believed, as does The Heritage Foundation, that sometimes you can’t get everything at once. Sometimes you get some of what you need from Congress now, but then you keep on fighting for what is right and get the rest of what you need as soon thereafter as you can. The effort to secure an end to Federal overspending is that kind of continuous fight.
Recently, a Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial made statements that its readers could misconstrue as indicating that Heritage believes that cuts in Federal spending are not worthwhile in the absence of deep cuts in entitlements. To the contrary, Heritage welcomes the full range of responsible spending cuts. Indeed, Heritage has long been at the forefront of the effort to rein-in Federal spending in all areas.
