March 11, 2011 10:18AM # This Week in Government Failure By [Tad DeHaven](https://www.cato.org/people/tad-dehaven) --- SHARE Over at [Downsizing the Federal Government](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/), we focused on the following issues this week: - A new [Cato video](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/video-61-billion-spending-cuts) puts $61 billion in spending cuts in perspective. - Republicans and Democrats are arguing over the 17 percent of the federal budget known as [nondefense discretionary spending](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/spending-growth-nondefense-discretionary). We take a look at what constitutes that spending. - Merely [capping federal spending growth at 3 percent a year](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/federal-budget-cap-3) would get the budget under control without having to raise taxes. - A look at what has caused the [U.S. Department of Agriculture’s budget](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usdas-budget-boom) to boom. - Alleged devotees of a more limited government often waste their time on quixotic moral crusades to “[make government more efficient](http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/wasting-time-government-waste).” In doing so, they’re really just playing into the hands of those that want big government. They’re also helping lead citizens to believe that our budget problems can be solved with just a little house cleaning. Follow Downsizing the Federal Government on Twitter ([@DownsizeTheFeds](http://twitter.com/DownsizeTheFeds)) and connect with us [on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Downsizing-the-Federal-Government/26635669039). ##### 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/).