Ron DeSantis plans for streamlined government, pledges to shut down four federal agencies

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis set the political stage alight on Wednesday when he revealed plans to trim the government’s size, proposing the elimination of four federal agencies if he becomes president. “We would do Education, we would do Commerce, we’d do Energy, and we would do IRS,” DeSantis announced during an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.

“If Congress will work with me on doing that, we’ll be able to reduce the size and scope of government,” he added. DeSantis noted that even if Congress didn’t share his exact vision, he’d still strive to use these agencies as a bulwark against the infiltration of woke ideology and leftism into the fabric of American society, NBC News reported.

DeSantis, in a bid to establish his unique brand of conservatism and distinguish himself from Republican front-runner Donald Trump, has leaned further to the right on various issues. Recently, he unexpectedly vetoed a widely supported criminal justice reform bill, leaving observers surprised.

While Trump hasn’t explicitly mentioned eliminating the Education Department, he has proposed cutting federal funding for any educational institution promoting critical race theory or other potentially divisive content.

“We need to fundamentally re-constitutionalize the government,” DeSantis said Wednesday. He alluded to the 2016 slogan “drain the swamp” and quipped, “I think the better analogy is breaking the swamp.”

DeSantis is no stranger to targeting the IRS. During “The Dana Show” last month, he branded the IRS a “corrupt organization” and confirmed he’d sign a measure to abolish the agency if given a chance. “We need something totally different,” he said, endorsing a flat tax structure and expressing a desire to dispose of the existing tax system in favor of one more beneficial to average citizens.

Currently, the IRS, under the Treasury Department’s supervision, has reduced its workforce by approximately 20% since 2010. Federal budgets for the Commerce, Energy, and Education departments in the current fiscal year stand at $109 billion, $160 billion, and $194 billion, respectively.

DeSantis isn’t alone in his call to eliminate federal agencies. In 2011, then-Texas Governor Rick Perry had also proposed closing three federal agencies during a primary debate, although he couldn’t recall the Energy Department — an agency he later oversaw as Trump’s energy secretary.