Mackinac Center Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Mozena issued the following statement on the FY2018 budget blueprint released on March 16 by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget:

We're seeing the same response to the President's budget that we did to the proposed return of Michigan's income tax rate to 2007 levels: Every special interest with its hand in the public pocket screams that even a small reduction in the rate of government growth would cause a catastrophe. They ask us to believe there is nothing the government does that is unnecessary, wasteful, duplicative, overpriced or counterproductive.

There are a lot of details to be worked out, but this budget deserves recognition for being the first meaningful statement by a President in decades that the relationship between the federal government, the states and the American people has gotten dangerously unbalanced. Many of the changes that are being critiqued as “cuts” are in fact return of authority and responsibility on specified topics to state governments, where they should be for practical and Constitutional reasons. Too many decisions are made in Washington that should be made in Lansing, at City Hall or at American families' kitchen tables.

The Trump Administration's efforts to identify and eliminate areas where the federal government is competing with either the private sector or other levels of government are exciting. It's also interesting to see programs being proposed for elimination for lack of evidence of value to the people they serve, which often means they're special-interest handouts like the community development block grants. We look forward to seeing where that process leads and what the results will be for the people of Michigan.