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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

4 Agencies On Chopping Block

Associated Press

House Republicans, joined by two former GOP Cabinet secretaries, called Tuesday for elimination of four federal agencies whose duties would be shifted elsewhere, sent to the states or handed to private business.

Robert Mosbacher, commerce secretary under President Bush, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp appeared with more than two dozen lawmakers to propose cuts that include the agencies they once ran.

The departments of Energy and Education also were proposed for the chopping block by a group of freshmen led by Kansas GOP Reps. Sam Brownback and Todd Tiahrt.

“Centralized planning in a large, diverse nation does not work,” Brownback told a news conference. “It didn’t work in the Soviet Union. It won’t work here.”

The group wants to send many of the agencies’ functions and most of the money directly to state and local governments or into the private sector.