Federal debt is piling up and spending is expected to soar in coming years. Projections show rivers of red ink unless federal policymakers enact reforms. They should cut spending in every department. A great place to start would be cutting aid-to-state programs, which cost more than $600 billion a year.

That was my message at a Senate hearing last week to a committee chaired by Senator Rand Paul. Kudos to Paul for holding the hearing and inviting an interesting array of witnesses. In the photo, that’s Romina Boccia, me, Steve Ellis, and Tom Schatz. Don Kettl also testified. We all gave the committee good ideas, now it is their job to cut.

Our testimony is here.