Letters & Testimony
Oppose Ag-Only Farm Bill: Spends More Than Senate Bill; Changes Make Subsidies Permanent
July 11, 2013
Supporting Passenger Mobility and Choice by Breaking Modal Stovepipes: Comparing Amtrak and Motorcoach Service
July 30, 2013 |
This analysis compares customer costs (fare, travel time) and societal costs (government subsidies, air emissions) associated with twenty specific trips that can currently be taken between select U.S. city pairs on both an Amtrak train and on a scheduled intercity motorcoach bus.... 
Golden Fleece: KABATA - Taxpayer Funded Cheerleaders for Alaska’s Knik Arm Bridge
June 26, 2013 |
Summary
Over the last decade, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) spent millions of federal taxpayer dollars on a project...
Achieving Measurable Outcomes in Agricultural Conservation Programs
June 14, 2013 |
All federal agricultural programs – including conservation programs - should prove that they are achieving measurable outcomes that...
Bringing Sequester in for a Landing: Congress on Verge of Avoiding FAA Furloughs with Budget Gimmicks
April 25, 2013 |
Update (9:03 pm): The Senate has gone with option 1 (see below), allowing for the transfer of $250 million from the Airport Improvement...
Sandy Supplemental Data
February 12, 2013 |
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As Washington debates the merits of a supplemental spending bill in response to superstorm Sandy, this database lists of all the spending...
Analysis of Selected Provisions in Hurricane Sandy Emergency Spending Proposals
December 17, 2012 > Updated: January 10, 2013 |
Update January 10, 2013:
We’ve combed through the House Appropriations Chairman Rogers Sandy Supplemental bill (HR 152 and his...
Sliding Past Sequestration: $2 Trillion in Common Sense Cuts to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff
October 01, 2012 |
In the summer of 2011, Congress sent the President a bill that acknowledged failure. Instead of swallowing hard and coming up with...
Green Scissors Report 2012
August 07, 2012 |
Green Scissors 2012 is produced by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and R Street to highlight and end wasteful and environmentally harmful federal spending. This diverse coalition of environmental, taxpayer and free-market groups has come together to show how the government can save billions of tax dollars and improve our environment.
...
Congress Relies on Billions from Treasury in Transportation Reauthorization
June 27, 2012 |
A quick note: This analysis is based upon best available data at the time it was written. As of this posting (6:20pm), the final...
MOX Misses the Mark
June 19, 2012 > Updated: April 09, 2013 |
Despite the ever-increasing price tag, incessant delays in progress, and known safety risks, the Department of Energy continues to pour federal subsidies into the Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program year after year. ...
Why Transportation Reauthorization Negotiations Are Failing: The Pay-fors Just Don’t Add Up
June 14, 2012 |
Congress continues to meet behind closed doors in a Conference Committee to hash out the details of a transportation bill...
California HSR Project Cuts Costs but Federal Taxpayer Still on the Hook
April 05, 2012 |
In response to growing public opposition, questionable project merit, and an increasingly bloated cost, the California High Speed Rail...
House to seek another extension for transportation program
March 22, 2012 |
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House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica (R-FL) introduced H.R. 4239 yesterday; a “clean” extension to the...
FY13 Defense Budget Scorecard
January 27, 2012 |
The Defense Department today gave the public a peek behind the cover of its Fiscal Year 2013 budget request, releasing a report and fact...
The Nation’s Transportation Trust Funds
January 19, 2012 |
The nation’s transportation system — highways, transit lines, aviation, waterways, and ports — is largely supported by a series of...
TIGER III Grant Awardees Named
December 15, 2011 |
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) today awarded $511 million worth of grants to support 46 projects in 33 states and...
The Department of Energy FutureGen Initiative
November 29, 2011 |
The latest iteration of the Department of Energy’s FutureGen project (find a timeline here) is a federal initiative to finance and...
Analyzing Transportation Provisions in Mini-Bus Appropriations Bill
November 15, 2011 |
House and Senate negotiators have released a final version of the so-called "mini-bus" appropriations bill that will roll three funding...
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Loan Program: Program Expansion Must Not Erode Taxpayer Protections
October 26, 2011 |
The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) was adopted by Congress in 1998 to leverage federal resources and...
Bridging the Gap: Redirecting Investments to Fix the Nation’s Bridges
October 13, 2011 |
A large portion of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are in poor condition and require investment to repair or replace. Congress, by virtue of...
Super Cuts for the Super Committee
September 15, 2011 |
Taxpayers for Common Sense has been working hard to meet the challenge of that the so-called Super Committee is facing - $1.2-1.5...
Transportation: Gridlock may lead to Crashes Ahead
August 31, 2011 |
The daunting challenges Congress faces in the next month regarding the nation's transportation programs when it returns next week:
1....
Spending Less, Spending Smarter: Recommendations for National Security Savings FY 2012 to FY 2021
July 20, 2011 |
Watchdog Groups Identify Nearly $600 Billion in National Security Spending Cuts
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The federal government could save...
Senate Transportation Reauthorization Summary Released
July 18, 2011 |
On the heels of the House's recent proposal, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today released a summary of its own...
House Transportation Reauthorization Proposal Released
July 06, 2011 |
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Rep. John Mica (R-FL) today released an outline of its proposal for a...
Repair Priorities: Transportation Spending Strategies to Save Taxpayer Dollars and Improve Roads
May 31, 2011 |
June 1, 2011
Taxpayers for Common Sense and Smart Growth America released a report highlighting smarter investments in road repair and...
The Most For Our Money—Highlighting Solutions for the Nation’s Transportation Problems
May 15, 2011 |
Transportation dollars are tight. The gasoline tax that we rely on to build and maintain our transportation networks isn’t enough to meet...
Draft of Administration’s Transportation Reauthorization Revealed
April 29, 2011 |
A draft has started floating around of the Obama Administration's reauthorization proposal for the nation's transportation program....
Reports highlight problems with transportation spending
April 12, 2011 |
Billions of taxpayer dollars handed out by the Department of Transportation was distributed on the basis of a flawed selection process,...
Framing the Transportation Debate: Two Recent Documents Highlight Key Issues
March 28, 2011 |
Two documents released recently do a great job framing the upcoming debate over reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation...
Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal
March 10, 2011 |
The FY2012 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning. TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest...
Common Sense Cuts—$900 billion in savings over 10 years
February 12, 2011 |
The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...
TCS Recommended Budget Cut List No. 2: Total Cuts $205+ billion
February 10, 2011 |
The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...
TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Energy
February 10, 2011 |
Taxpayers have been subsidizing the same mature, polluting energy technologies for decades. Many projects and outdated programs still...
TCS Review of CBO Brief: Spending and Funding for Highways
January 21, 2011 |
As the 112th Congress begins to tackle runaway deficits, government spending cuts, and congressional earmark bans, they will undoubtedly...
TCS Recommended Budget Cuts for the 112th Congress
January 11, 2011 |
The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...
Fiscal Commission Defense Cuts: Strong Start, More Can be Done
November 12, 2010 |
The draft recommendations released this week by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform propose...
Green Scissors 2010
August 23, 2010 |
Taxpayers for Common Sense joined a number of environmental and consumer groups and a bipartisan slate of Representatives today in...
The Flap Over the Jobs Bill: Flawed Politics of the Past Would Continue to Distribute Funds in the F
March 01, 2010 |
Earlier this week, the Senate passed its version of the jobs bill—a bill which is flawed from a transportation and taxpayer...
Senate Jobs Bill: The Wrong Direction on Transportation
February 24, 2010 |
Updated 2:33pm
The Senate-passed jobs bill (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act or the Jobs for Main Street Act) contains a...
MilCon, VA and State Department Funding in Omnibus
December 11, 2009 |
The House of Representatives drove home a $447 billion omnibus spending bill yesterday loaded with six of the seven appropriations bills...
TCS Releases Space Security Database
April 07, 2009 |
Space is crucial to our national security, and we’ve got the skyrocketing budgets to prove it. The United States spends billions on...
F-22: No More Second Helpings
March 18, 2009 |
Goodness, the difference an economic crisis can make. A few years ago, advertisements by defense contractors arguing that the U.S. should...
Failing Salmon Recovery Efforts are Costing Taxpayers Billions
February 09, 2009 |
Over the last two decades, federal agencies have spent more than $8 billion on efforts to restore salmon to the Columbia and Snake River...
Raising Questions About Transportation Spending in House Economic Stimulus Legislation
January 29, 2009 |
The transportation portion of the House stimulus package contains more than $43 billion for the Department of Transportation, including...
Water Infrastructure Spending in the House Economic Stimulus
January 28, 2009 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs large water projects (dams, levees, pumping sand on beaches) across the country. In the...
Ten Common Sense Reforms for the Army Corps of Engineers
January 01, 2007 |
AMERICAN RIVERS · EARTHJUSTICE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND · ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE · FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ·
MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN ALLIANCE ·...
Banking on the Future
July 31, 2005 |
Investing in Smart Water Strategies for Pennsylvania and the Nation...
Road to Ruin: The 27 Most Wasteful Road Projects in America
June 01, 2004 |
Road to Ruin documents 27 road projects that will drain federal tax dollars, harm communities, and damage the natural environment. In total, these projects would cost federal taxpayers at least $24 billion....
Troubled Waters
March 08, 2000 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is wasting billions of dollars on environmentally harmful projects, charges a new report by Taxpayers...
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