January 7, 2011 11:27AM # This Week in Government Failure By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) --- SHARE Over at [Downsizing Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week: - Another example of why the [U.S. Postal Service](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/example-why-usps-should-be-privatized) should be privatized. - Given the federal government’s continued post-emergency bureaucratic bungling, Congress should devolve responsibility for [disaster assistance](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/federal-emergency-mismanagement-agency) to state and local governments, private insurance companies, and charities. - Federal taxpayers helping foot the tab for renovations to a local wine bar? It sounds crazy, but that’s par for the course with HUD’s [Community Development Block Grant program](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/earmarks-and-federal-grants). - Much of the increase in [nondefense discretionary spending](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/republican-100-billion-spending-cut) during the past decade came when the GOP controlled the House, Senate, and White House. So now is the GOP’s chance to start reversing all those Bush-era increases. - Republicans should use the [debt limit](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/thoughts-debt-limit-debate) vote as an opportunity to press the administration for budgetary reforms that address a potentially ruinous debt burden that has been driven by the profligate spending of both parties. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).