Has a government program ever been terminated?

[jIM_Ohio]

Meaning a law was passed and put into effect.
Then later, the entire program was de-funded.

Before you suggest Prohibition, realize the repeal of prohibition created a new entity called a distributor, so it was not entirely "repealed".

I am humored by all the government shut down topics online and in media, and whether its SS, medicare or Obamacare, I cannot think of a single government program that has been terminated after it was created.

Thoughts?

[Petunia 100]

The WPA?

[KTP]

Prohibition would have been my only guess, but as you said, it wasn't quite the same.

I think it is some law of conservation of government jobs. Programs can only be created, not destroyed.

[kork13]

This is an easy answer for me, but only because I'm in the thick of it... Military and other government acquisition programs are frequently approved, funded, implemented, then halfway down the line, or even after a few years of operational use, the programs are suddenly defunded and they grind to a halt... "just kidding!"

Alot of the programs that are killed via de-funding are killed slowly and painfully. R&D goes first, then personnel & supporting acquisitions, then slowly the O&M pieces are de-funded too. Often, this process takes years & multiple budget cycles, and is often not publicized very much, because it's done covertly -- rather than putting a line in the budget that says "kill this program," the line-item funding for it simply goes away & isn't included on the budget. That's part of the reason most people won't be able to specify a law or program that has been killed in this way... No one knows about it going away unless you're a part of the program itself.

Two specific examples of repealed laws that come to mind, though, are the Jim Crow laws & the national speed limit. With some research, there are alot of various immigration laws that have been cancelled specifically through de-funding.

[Bob B.]

Rural Electrification?

[ua_guy]

I'm going to assume the OP understands how to conduct a Google search. The answer is yes, government programs have been created, and then later terminated.

One of the sad ones, the NASA Space Shuttle program was ordered to an end in 2004 by President Bush. The plan was to sunset operations and close its doors in 2010, but because of delayed missions, it was extended to 2011 when it was finally wrapped up in July that same year.

[bjl584]

No.

We need them all. Nancy Pelosi said so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0t3CimZ4cI

[Mjenn]

A quick Google search shows that the 2011 budget alone cut two parts of the ACA, Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan and the Free Choice Voucher program. Tons of educational programs were also cut, in 2011 alone – Striving Readers, Even Start and Smaller Learning were all cut. There was an agricultural broadband loan subsidy, cut.

The difference? These were cut during budget negotiations, not in a last minute maneuver to force people to do things your way even if you are not the majority – a move that is profoundly undemocratic.