Clinton did a pretty good job of doing just that. I was in the Army during the Clinton era and saw the active duty Army shrink from 780,000 to 475,000 in just 2 years.
We have major problems all over the place. And there is no way to fix it quickly.
I’m not a big fan of raising taxes, but spending more than you make and then BORROWING the rest is no way to run a government.