new decade as it did in all of the 1990s. nothing typifies the expansion of government as much as the growing wealth of the washington, d.c. area. seven of the 10 nation's richest counties surround washington. average federal worker salary and benefits stands at $126,000. another size of washington's growth, traffic congestion is the nation's worse. as the country suffered through layoffs and recession, washington home prices remained farrell stable. >> the congressional system is set up to spend money, not to save money. incentive for many members of congress to solve a problem is to create a program. >> reporter: with the creation of almost any government program comes a food chain of contractors, lobbyist, lawyers, special interests all feeding from a government trough that congress seldom let's a run dry. bill: that trough runs deep. you're looking at several programs that could be cut.