8am ET Today: Cato's Dom Lett on CSPAN

Deficit Reduction in the Trump Administration

Tune into CSPAN’s Washington Journal this Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 8:00AM EDT where Cato Institute's Dominik Lett will discuss Congress and the Trump administration's record on deficit reduction. Expect to hear about how:

• Rescissions are a commonsense, if tiny, step towards fiscal sanity.

• The federal government shouldn't be in the business of subsidizing media companies. NPR and PBS can and should stand on their own merits without taxpayer support.

• Foreign aid has too many, often conflicting, goals. The rescissions bill cuts duplicative, wasteful, ideologically driven, or low priority foreign aid spending.

• The rescissions bill barely passing on the heels of a massive tax and spending package with a $6 trillion price-tag shows the great irony of Congress. It's easy to run up the deficit, but grueling work to cut spending.

• Rescissions alone won't put the US on a sustainable fiscal path. The US needs serious reforms to major entitlement programs, particularly Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

On a personal note, I couldn’t be prouder to see Dom, who was my first hire at Cato only 2.5 years ago, being recognized as a fiscal expert and invited to face the CSPAN audience. I also encourage you to peruse some of our relevant recent work on these topics for a more in-depth look, including: