November 5, 2010 4:03PM 

# This Week in Government Failure 

By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) 

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Over at [Downsizing the Federal Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week:

- Unfortunately, the party favored by tea party supporters at the moment has no interest in shuttering the [Department of Education](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/dept-education-survive-gop).
- Columnist Robert Samuelson is right: the Obama administration’s [high-speed rail](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/high-speed-pork) dreams “represent shortsighted, thoughtless government at its worst.”
- Attention GOP: [the electorate wants spending cuts](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/what-spending-should-gop-cut), and they will support the policymakers who take the lead on cuts if they are pursued in a forthright and serious-minded manner.
- New Republican members of Congress will be looking for ways to cut the budget deficit and also to increase economic growth. One way to do both is to [privatize government assets](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/republican-agenda-privatization).
- Will the [House Republican leadership](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/will-gop-embrace-gop-cuts) embrace spending cuts proposed by their own members in the conservative Republican Study Committee?

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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