Photo by egbphoto

Republicans always talk of slimming down the size of the federal government, and presumptive presidential contender Mitt Romney already has some ideas as to where he’d start cutting.

According to the Post, Romney floated the idea of closing the Department of Housing and Urban Development during a fundraising event in Florida:

“I’m going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I’m probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go,” Romney told the audience. His words were heard by reporters on a sidewalk outside the event. “Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later.”

Romney sources were quick to say that he wasn’t making policy, but rather merely tossing out ideas. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has a budget of over $40 billion and some 10,000 employees, isn’t the only cabinet agency Romney has proposed cutting or consolidating; he’s also pointed to the Department of Education, which is often targeted by Republicans for closure.

In late November, then candidate Rick Perry named the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce as agencies he’d shutter. (There was a third one, but he couldn’t remember it.) Ron Paul has wanted to scrap the IRS; most Republicans have reserved particular venom for the Environmental Protection Agency.