Staff Report
Published Jan. 28, 2011

According to a GSA Daily poll, 81.1% approve of the “Spending Reduction Act of 2011,” aimed to cut $2.5 trillion in federal government spending over 10 years. Only 30.6%, however, believe it has a chance of passing.

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, along with U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scot Garret of New Jersey, introduced the bill on Jan. 20. The bill would reduce current spending for non-defense, non-homeland security and non-veterans programs to 2008 levels.

At the beginning of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1, spending is further reduced to 2006 levels and frozen there for the next decade.

According to this week’s GSA Daily poll, 23.4% said the bill is too lax, 18.7% said it’s too strict, and 57.9% said the legislation is just right.

Meanwhile, 55% said it probably won’t pass, while another 14.7% said it “definitely won’t.”

Of the 30.1% that think the bill stands a chance, only 6.4% are extremely confident in the bill.

GSA Daily also posed the question, “Can you successfully run government like a business?” According to the survey, 70.6% said yes, 29.4% answered no.

The survey had a total of 109 responses.

Here’s a selection of comments made by survey takers:

“We either run it like a business or we go out of business as a responsible nation where the world wants to invest its future.”

“You can run a government like a business in that your expenses should not be more than your revenue.”

“Probably will not pass, but may get guys on record for the next election.”

“Government is not like a business. It is not chartered to make a profit.”

“DeMint is an embarrassment. He is the scarecrow on his way to Oz.”

“The federal government must set the environment for free enterprise to prosper. Cutting spending ‘willy-nilly’ won’t do that.”

“I applaud efforts to reduce the deficit, but this effort is so blatant on who will be impacted the most that it is embarrassing and an affront to anyone who needs any kind of assistance to make their life less challenging.”

“We admire the tenacity of Sen. Jim DeMint. We need people like him in government, who are not a part of the ‘good ol’ boy, business as usual’ political club.”

“Government cannot be run like business. There are just certain portions of government that really can’t exist in private industry. We also need to walk away from the notion that privatizing portions of the government helps.”