January 21, 2011 2:50PM 

# 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:

- It should be clear that we, as a society, would be better off abandoning efforts to socially engineer a specific [homeownership rate](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/race-and-homeownership), either for the population in general or by racial group.
- The GOP should insist on the $100 billion in initial cuts they promised, and also demand passage of a [legal cap on overall federal spending](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/swap-debt-limit-cut-and-cap).
- Perhaps we should start calling [farm subsidies](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/farm-subsidies-benefit-landowners) “landowner subsidies.”
- How much money do federal taxpayers lose to [food stamp fraud](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/food-stamp-fraud) each year? Nobody really knows.
- A new House rule requires members of the 112th Congress to cite specific constitutional authority when introducing any new bill or program. A brief summary of how the [General Welfare, Commerce, and Necessary and Proper Clauses](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/new-house-rule-constitution) was understood by the Framers is in order.

##### Related Tags 

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

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