RSC chair: We’re ‘crazies’ if we eliminate Cabinet departments

The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee said Monday that the group’s budget didn’t propose getting rid of Cabinet departments because that “makes us seem like crazies.”

{mosads}“We’re trying to put forth a serious budget that addresses the concerns of conservatives about a bloated federal government,” Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) said in discussing the RSC’s plan to cut $7.1 trillion in spending over a decade.

“But at the same time, we’re not trying to do anything that makes us seem like crazies.”

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) are among the prominent Republicans who have called for scrapping prominent agencies or Cabinet departments.

Cruz, who announced Monday that he was running for president in 2016, has advocated getting rid of the IRS. Paul has said the Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development departments could be tossed aside. And in 2011, Perry famously forgot his pledge to get rid of the Energy Department, as well as Commerce and Education.

Speaking with reporters, Flores quickly softened his tone about the idea of eliminating Cabinet departments, saying that a “more perfect conservative budget” might take that route.

“Rub that word ‘crazies’ out,” Flores said. “We’re trying to find a way to put forth a responsible budget people will read and take seriously. And I think if we go out aggressive in eliminating Cabinet-level agencies, that this budget would not be taken as seriously as it should.”

The RSC budget cuts spending more aggressively than the House GOP budget, which cuts around $5.5 trillion over 10 years.