The federal government maintains seven independent commissions that issue grants and subsidized loans focused on economic development.  Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has long included these regional commissions among the spending cuts in its annual Prime Cuts report.  These commissions deserve scrutiny from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the new bipartisan DOGE Caucuses in both chambers of Congress.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), the Delta Regional Authority, the Denali Commission, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, Southwest Border Regional Commission, the Northern Border Regional Commission, and the Great Lakes Authority receive funding that, “is set aside for special geographical designations rather than applied across the country based on objective criteria indicating local areas’ levels of distress,” according to President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget request.  While these commissions serve certain sections of the country, the funds they distribute, like a $750,000 ARC grant for a Buc-ee’s location in Athens, Alabama, often serve special business interests.  Buc-ee’s is one of the largest privately held corporations in the U.S. and can clearly finance its own expansion without taxpayer dollars. 

These commissions have also received hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks from members of Congress as described in CAGW’s annual Pig Book.  For example, the Delta Regional Authority has received 18 earmarks totaling $177.9 million since FY 2003, and the ARC, currently co-chaired by Gayle Manchin, the wife of retiring Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), has received 14 earmarks totaling $413.8 million since FY 1995 for projects in Alabama, Kentucky, and West Virginia. 

The Denali Commission, the only commission with a single-state mandate to attract businesses to Alaska, has received 32 earmarks totaling $349.9 million since FY 2000.  In 2013, the commission’s own inspector general, Mike Marsh, questioned the agency’s existence when he stated, “I have concluded that [the Commission] is a congressional experiment that hasn’t worked out in practice. … I recommend that Congress put its money elsewhere.” 

Adopting CAGW’s recommendation that Congress eliminate these regional agencies would save taxpayers $287.1 million in the first year and $1.4 billion over five years.  Each of former President Trump’s budgets from FY 2018 through FY 2021 proposed the elimination of the Delta Regional Authority, the Denali Commission, and the Northern Border Regional Commission, stating that they are duplicative of other federal programs.  In their efforts to make the government more efficient, the elimination of regional commissions would be a good start for the DOGE and Congress’ DOGE Caucuses to show that they are serious about cutting waste, reducing pork-barrel spending, and keeping hungry special interests from devouring the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.