Letters & Testimony
Oppose Ag-Only Farm Bill: Spends More Than Senate Bill; Changes Make Subsidies Permanent
July 11, 2013
Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit
September 13, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 37
Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters intent on abandoning... 
Time to Terminate Tax Extenders
September 06, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 36
Next week, vacation’s over and Congress has to go back to work. Even without the Syria showdown, they’ve got some...
Back to School
August 29, 2013 |
As kids head back to school, teachers are crossing their fingers hoping they won’t have to spend hours re-teaching factoids forgotten...
Task Forced To Dos
August 23, 2013 |
This week, the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force released their report on the rebuilding effort, lessons learned, and recommendations...
Saying No to No One
August 16, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 33
You know that saying you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink? Seemingly the same principle...
Closed Door Congress
August 09, 2013 |
Transparency, accountability, results. That’s what citizens across the country want from their government. The ridiculously low approval...
Dysfunction Junction
August 02, 2013 |
22. That’s how many bills have become law since the 113th Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2013. It’s one more illustration of...
Transparently Opaque
July 26, 2013 |
We hear it all the time from policymakers. Trust us to do a better job for the taxpayer if we do it behind closed doors -- less...
Budget Meltdown
July 19, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 29:
73 days and counting. That’s the time left until the start of the 2014 fiscal year. October 1st will also herald...
Farm Subsidy Resurrection
July 12, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 28:
Remember a couple weeks ago we told you that despite the House rejecting a trillion dollar farm bill that the...
Budget Busting Beaches
July 03, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 27:
Some people daydream about sleeping on a pile of money. Well, if you take a sun-drenched snooze on the beach for...
Golden Fleeced in Alaska
June 28, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 26:
The late-Sen. William Proxmire (D-WI) – who entrusted the “Golden Fleece” to us after his retirement – gave out...
Farm Bill Buys the Farm
June 21, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 25:
A funny thing happened on the way to pass the House Farm Bill. It failed. 195-234. Oops. That wasn’t supposed to...
Dud Defense
June 14, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 24:
The House of Representatives closed out the week by adopting their fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization...
Flood Insurance Fiasco
June 07, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 23:
You can’t get something for nothing. Congress often forgets that. We saw it this week with some lawmakers hell...
What, Me Worry?
May 31, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 22:
Americans could be forgiven if it seems that the nation’s capital has been infiltrated by an army of Alfred E....
Harvesting Even More from Crop Insurance
May 24, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 21:
This week’s Wastebasket is part two of two. Last week, we analyzed the “Rear View Farm Bill” being considered in...
Rear View Farm Bill
May 17, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 20:
This week’s Wastebasket is part one of two. Stay tuned next week for more about how Washington can save taxpayer...
Pork Floats
May 10, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 19:
Congressional pressure to pass a massive bill chock full of new water projects has gotten to the point that the...
Sandy at Six Months
May 03, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 18:
Sandy came roaring into New York and New Jersey six months ago this week. It’s been almost four months since...
MOX Not Populi
April 26, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 17:
Just how far will a member of Congress go to protect his pork? We’ve seen a lot of funny stuff over the years, but...
Food (Aid) Fight
April 19, 2013 |
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Volume XVIII No. 16:
In his fiscal year 2014 budget request, the President called for reforms to the international food aid system. ...
Budgetpalooza
April 12, 2013 |
Volume XVIII No. 15:
Two months late, the president’s budget request joins the separately adopted House and Senate budget resolutions....
Binge Budgeting
April 05, 2013 |
Despite all the bellyaching over sequestration, Washington is doing little to change the federal spending diet that brought us to this...
Spending Dud
March 29, 2013 |
It's clear by now that the United States' financial situation will force everyone, from your mother up to the President, to cut down on...
Transparently Wasteful Earmarks
March 22, 2013 |
During a Senate Committee meeting on the massive water policy and projects bill for the Army Corps of Engineers, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)...
A Tale of Two Budgets
March 15, 2013 |
It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times. This week House and Senate Budget Committee chairs unveiled their budgets for...
Chuck the Waste
March 08, 2013 |
When a new leader takes the helm at an agency as big as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), it's common for recommendations to start...
Sequester Squabbles
March 01, 2013 |
The across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration will take effect today. So what does $85 billion sliced out of the federal...
Sequestration Chicken Littles
February 22, 2013 |
Congress and the President are trying to blame each other for looming across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. Dueling...
Engineering Boondoggles
February 15, 2013 |
While Washington is wringing its hands about the automatic across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, the U.S. Army Corps of...
Time for a Farm Bill Redo
February 08, 2013 |
While much of Washington is bracing for across-the-board cuts, the Agriculture Committees are looking to harvest even more cash for their...
Broken Budgeting
February 01, 2013 |
Normally, Taxpayers for Common Sense staff would spend this weekend resting up, getting ready for the President’s budget request that is...
Waking Up on Transportation
January 25, 2013 |
With Groundhog Day fast approaching, you’ll forgive us for relating to Phil Connors in the movie of the same name. We wake up every...
Dear Mr. President
January 18, 2013 |
Congratulations on your re-election. As you are about to be sworn in for a second term, we at Taxpayers for Common Sense propose some...
Smarter Sandy Spending
January 11, 2013 |
Another attempt at funding disaster relief in the wake of Superstorm Sandy will hit the floor of the House of Representatives next week....
New Beginnings
January 04, 2013 |
With a new Congress, there are new beginnings. Even though the leadership remains the same, there are new Representatives, new Senators,...
A Congress Carol
December 21, 2012 |
In the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. With...
Sandy Spending
December 14, 2012 |
This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its draft emergency spending bill for Sandy relief. Well, mostly Sandy relief....
We Can Solve This
December 07, 2012 |
This isn’t a Weekly Wastebasket.
Taxpayers for Common Sense exists because we think we can make government work. We believe that people...
Sham Savings Scam
November 30, 2012 |
As talks on ways to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff meander along, unsurprisingly lawmakers are lining up to protect or promote their...
Thanksgiving Turkeys: Baked, Thawing, or Rotten
November 21, 2012 |
Congress is yet again on vacation, giving taxpayers a short break from the full court press of an overstuffed lame duck session. While we...
Earmarks: Don’t Even Think About It
November 16, 2012 |
As the dawn of the 113th Congress looms near, there have been some rumblings about ringing in the New Year with a return of those special...
An Open Letter to Congress: Common Sense Needed Now More Than Ever
November 09, 2012 |
More than $6 billion and thousands of campaign commercials later, the dust has finally settled on the 2012 elections. The voters have...
Rebuilding Resilience
November 02, 2012 |
The nation is recovering from a natural disaster. Again. This time it is Sandy. A few months ago it was the drought. Last year there was...
Treasury Vampires
October 26, 2012 |
Congressional and presidential candidates are on the campaign trail spinning spooky stories about their opponents while promising treats...
The Golden (State) Road
October 19, 2012 |
The Golden (State) Road
Pub Date: Oct 19, 2012
Two recent – but unrelated – decisions from the Golden State are likely to have...
Nuclear Wastrels
October 12, 2012 |
Nuclear Wastrels
Pub Date: Oct 12, 2012
You would hope the folks overseeing our nuclear weapons arsenal would be conscientious, able...
Sharpening the Pencils on Deficit Reduction
October 05, 2012 |
During this week’s debate President Obama and Governor Romney argued over a lot of things. One of them was deficit reduction plans. We’re...
Set Up To Fail
September 28, 2012 |
Lawmakers like to lambaste agencies and the federal government for wasteful spending. And, often, they richly deserve it. But in some...
Fiscal Cliff Jumping
September 21, 2012 |
Like a budgetary asteroid heading for earth, the post-election harbinger of doom is the so-called fiscal cliff where the 2001 and 2003...
Defense Doublespeak
September 13, 2012 |
If irony is a crucial ingredient to comedy, the House of Representatives was a laugh riot this week thanks to some serious silliness about sequestration and defense spending....
The Even “More” Solyndras Act
September 07, 2012 |
This bill claims to save taxpayers from more losses like the now infamous Solyndra, but like most political rhetoric, it over promises and under delivers....
Drought Yields Dollars
August 30, 2012 |
Politicians on both sides of the aisle are planning on shamelessly taking advantage of the crippling drought to stick taxpayers with a...
Solutions, the Real Red Meat
August 23, 2012 |
The Republican National Convention starts next week and the Democratic National Convention follows shortly after. There will be a lot of...
Back in BRAC
August 16, 2012 |
Telling residents of military towns that the U.S. needs to close more bases is probably not a fun job. Yet that’s what Defense Secretary...
Taxing the Emperor’s New Clothes
August 09, 2012 |
Every couple of years lawmakers pass the budgetary equivalent of Spanx. Known as the tax extenders package, this legislation has more...
Hurry Up and Do Nothing
August 02, 2012 |
It’s August in an election year, which means DC is a ghost town. In spite of a long list of unfinished business and a lackluster economy,...
Making it Rain
July 26, 2012 |
With much of farm country baking, some lawmakers in Washington see the record-setting drought as a perfect opportunity to make tax...
Closing the Tariff Bill Buffet
July 19, 2012 |
The MTB is the most popular bill you’ve never heard of. The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) is a compendium of more than two thousand...
Industrious Defenders
July 12, 2012 |
If House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) has his way, House members will be distracted by the sideshow in his...
Watching the Dollars Go By
July 05, 2012 |
Going to the beach this summer – whether it was for the 4th of July or an August vacation – you might want to keep an eye out for some of...
Seeking Senator Scissorhands
June 28, 2012 |
When you’re in a hole, you stop digging. And when you’ve got a $1.3 trillion deficit and $15.7 trillion debt, you gotta get cuttin’....
Thinking Outside the MOX
June 21, 2012 |
Remember your parents telling you that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is? Well, that principle applies equally to...
Thou Shale Not Waste
June 14, 2012 |
Last week the House of Representatives voted on the fiscal year 2013 Energy and Water spending bill. The $32.1 billion bill funds several...
Much Ado About Earmarks
June 07, 2012 |
If you hear some lawmakers tell it, earmarks made Washington a well-oiled machine. As special interest spending provisions that were...
Meeting the Earmark Challenge
May 31, 2012 |
Challenges often bring out the best or worst in people. Public policy challenges do the same thing to lawmakers. The current moratorium...
Profiting from Entitlements
May 23, 2012 |
As farmers finish the last of their spring plantings, lawmakers on the Agriculture Committees are scrambling to sow the seeds for costly...
Time to U-Turn USEC
May 17, 2012 |
The United States Enrichment Company (USEC) received bad news this week in the form of a delisting notice from the New York Stock...
A Farewell to Alms
May 10, 2012 |
Last year, the top six oil companies in the U.S. made $148.7 billion in profits. That works out to about $407 million a day, $17...
Death Star Defense
May 03, 2012 |
Hey, budget-watchers bored by the slow pace of Congress in this electoral year, guess what: Star Wars is back, and it’s playing at a...
Lead by Example
April 26, 2012 |
People in glass houses should not throw stones. Especially when those houses are in Congress. For weeks now the public has been exposed...
Fleecing by Waterway
April 19, 2012 |
With our nation suffering from a $15 trillion debt hangover, taxpayers are demanding Washington sober up when managing our tax dollars....
Breaking the (Tax) Code
April 12, 2012 |
If you're scrambling to finish your taxes this weekend, we wanted to remind you of a few breaks you might have missed. Unfortunately,...
Recycling Bad Ideas
April 05, 2012 |
The House of Representatives’ transportation authorization bill is mired in legislative purgatory without the votes to pass. House...
Don’t Fear the REAPer
March 29, 2012 |
It’s time to put misguided federal handouts to agriculture out to pasture. As Congress and the President sit on the fence, billions in...
Tempest in a Teapot
March 22, 2012 |
Every year there is a kabuki dance on Capitol Hill that churns out partisan claims and counter-claims that one party or the other is...
The Ostrich Approach to Budgeting
March 15, 2012 |
With hearings on the FY 2013 budget in full swing on Capitol Hill, one question keeps popping up: “How are you planning for...
Nuke No-Go for Taxpayers
March 08, 2012 |
As the anniversary of the tsunami and the ensuing Fukushima disaster approaches, many will reflect on the use of nuclear power to safely...
De-duping the Government II
March 02, 2012 |
More often than not, the sequel to a hit doesn’t measure up to the original. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is trying to buck...
Opening Congressional Windows
February 24, 2012 |
As technology advances, more and more Americans expect easy access to information. They want to look behind the curtains and see how...
Offputting Offsets
February 17, 2012 |
This week was poised to be a highlight for transportation dreamers, with a reauthorization proposal in the President’s budget and votes...
The Earmark’s New Clothes
February 10, 2012 |
Last year, Congress decided to try on an earmark-free suit. The fashion jury is still out on the final results. For instance, a look at...
Taking Stock of the STOCK Act
February 03, 2012 |
Yesterday the Senate voted 96-3 to approve a bill prohibiting lawmakers from making stock trades using insider knowledge they garner from...
Complexifying the Code
January 27, 2012 |
In the State of the Union, the President called for comprehensive tax reform: “So tonight, I’m asking Democrats and Republicans to...
Inside Job or Profiting from Legislating
January 20, 2012 |
Eight years ago, a group of academics wondered if lawmakers were using their special access to sensitive information to make money on the...
Bridge on the River (St.) Croix
January 13, 2012 |
Several lawmakers want Minnesota and Wisconsin to spend upwards of $700 million to build a bridge that will carry just 18,000 cars a day...
Defense Budget Strategery
January 06, 2012 |
The release of the Defense Department's long-promised strategy review yesterday was underwhelming for budget-watchers. The purpose of the...
Omnibusted
December 22, 2011 |
The year began with hoary promises that Congress would be different – spending bills would be passed one at a time with ample time for...
Defense Dollar Dodgers
December 16, 2011 |
Everyone should have gotten the message by now that we are in deep budget trouble and the trimming season is upon us. But when it comes...
Ruling the Budget
December 09, 2011 |
At some point in the midst of a messy situation, you end up thinking: How did I get here? The deficit and debt hole Washington finds...
Pet Rock Budgeting
December 02, 2011 |
Everyone seems to agree we need to get our budget deficit under control and rein in the debt. But as the Super Committee found out, the...
Waiting for Godot
November 23, 2011 |
As proud as Congress is of their almighty power of the purse, they've spent the year waiting for something to happen, some mythical shoe...
Writing Waste
November 18, 2011 |
Finally! It’s been two years since the last spending bills were considered in (semi) regular order. It wasn’t procedurally perfect—three...
Nuke Numbers Game
November 10, 2011 |
When a high-stakes budget fight erupts in Washington, nearly every discussion devolves into a numbers game. Politicos on either side of...
Get Over Yourselves
November 03, 2011 |
Do your job. That's all we're asking. Being picked for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction wasn't a plum assignment to be...
Farm Bill Fiasco
October 27, 2011 |
Never let a crisis go to waste. Agriculture Committee leaders are following that old maxim, asking the “Super Committee” charged with...
Tending the Budgetary Harvest
October 20, 2011 |
Like growing a healthy garden, managing the budget takes a lot of maintenance. You have to weed out the unwanted, prune the suckers, and...
Big Government Defenders
October 13, 2011 |
Political leaders tackling our budget mess should have visited the Washington Convention Center this week for a lesson on federal...
Cut Where the Money Is
October 06, 2011 |
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton supposedly observed, “because that’s where the money is.” This yielded the “Willie Sutton...
Budgeting on Reality
September 29, 2011 |
As millions of Americans do every year, Congress should jot down some New Year’s resolutions. But instead of waiting until January, these...
Guaranteed Loss
September 21, 2011 |
You may have heard about Solyndra. The first casualty, but certainly not the last, for the embattled Department of Energy (DOE) Loan...
Matrix Budget Scoring
September 15, 2011 |
In The Matrix, Morpheus could have been describing the government’s budgeting rules: “some of them can be bent, others can be broken.”...
W(h)ither Appropriations
September 08, 2011 |
Lawmakers of all political stripes are fond of reminding everyone in earshot that the Constitution gives them the power of the purse....
Disasters in the Budget
September 01, 2011 |
As the Northeast dries out from Hurricane Irene, it is sobering to think that this likely multi-billion dollar storm that rode the east...
Run with the Scissors
August 25, 2011 |
It’s past time to get out the scissors. This week the latest deficit projections emerged, forecasting a $1.3 trillion federal deficit...
A Helping Hand
August 18, 2011 |
Incapable of producing a grand compromise to rein in our burgeoning debt, Congress has punted that responsibility to a bi-partisan "Super...
Failure Is Not an Option
August 11, 2011 |
Others have already pointed out the obvious: the newly appointed ‘Super Committee’ is nowhere close to the first committee or commission...
Mailing It In
August 03, 2011 |
It’s down to the wire. Weeks of debate, marathon meetings at the White House, and hundreds of press conferences have all led to this. The...
Just Do It
July 28, 2011 |
The competing debt ceiling plans from House and Senate leaders have several things in common. Obviously increasing the debt limit, but...
Doomsday Debt Clock
July 21, 2011 |
Eleven days and counting. Then the debt ceiling clock strikes midnight and the federal budget turns into a pumpkin. Bottom line is the...
Bombers Away
July 14, 2011 |
Anyone following the House of Representatives' recent debate over defense spending could be forgiven for thinking defense has fallen off...
Debt Limit Double Talk
July 07, 2011 |
The President and Congressional Republicans have been throwing down gauntlets for weeks over the debt limit vote. Demands are flying: No...
Panetta’s Proving Ground
June 29, 2011 |
Defense Secretary Robert Gates will fly away from the Pentagon today leaving behind a position that his former boss, President George W....
Popping the Gas Balloon
June 23, 2011 |
Momentum is a powerful legislative force – once a bill starts swirling the bowl, it’s only a matter of time before it goes down. More...
Surveying Spending
June 16, 2011 |
Washington’s in the thick of its summer spending season. You can be forgiven if it feels like we just finished the painful process of...
Repair Priorities
June 09, 2011 |
Anybody that’s owned a house knows that keeping up with the maintenance is critical. Patching a small hole in the roof now is a heck of a...
Just Say No to Ethanol
June 02, 2011 |
A long-standing axiom for Presidential aspirants has been to kiss the ring of ethanol if you want to have any chance of doing well in the...
Defending Earmarks
May 26, 2011 |
As earmark moratoria fever swept across the Capitol a few months ago, we applauded, and promised to keep a watchful eye on what...
Running on Fumes
May 19, 2011 |
The nation’s surface transportation system is – pun very much intended – running on fumes. One in nine of our bridges is structurally...
Flooding in the Treasury
May 12, 2011 |
Yet again we are reacquainted with flooding from the “Father of Waters,” or “Ol Man River,” – the mighty Mississippi. Just like 2008,...
House Cleaning
May 05, 2011 |
Spring cleaning is underway in the House, and they’re not just tossing out earmarks. Some motivated lawmakers are wiping down the grimy...
Taxes a la mode
April 28, 2011 |
Adding insult to injury, taxpayers recently found out that BP was able to save $13 billion on their taxes by writing off their losses...
Pouting Over Ports
April 21, 2011 |
We’ve all seen that unlucky parent dealing with the kid stomping and screaming in the checkout line demanding a sweet treat or precious...
Analysis Paralysis
April 14, 2011 |
It has been difficult watching Congress these past few weeks. For the amount of pain it caused, the budget bill that just passed might as...
You Say You Want a Resolution
April 07, 2011 |
The seeds of this springtime spending showdown were sown nearly a year ago when the 111th Congress failed to agree on a budget...
Cropping Insurance
March 31, 2011 |
While much of Washington is coming around to the fact we can leave no stone unturned when tackling our deficits, some old bulls are...
Enforcing the No-Cost Zone
March 24, 2011 |
Among the many voices loudly debating our bombing of Libya this week is one we haven’t heard in a while—the one saying “hey, how much...
Subsidizing Risk
March 17, 2011 |
This week, we have all watched the events following the tragic earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan...
Unconventional Wisdom
March 11, 2011 |
The polarized positions that have solidified around deficit reduction on the Hill and in the headlines have spawned a crop of polls...
Won’t Get Duped Again
March 04, 2011 |
We’re going to assign some required reading for lawmakers searching for money-saving ideas as they tackle the upcoming budget bills. The...
Shutdown Shenanigans
February 25, 2011 |
House and Senate majorities are engaged in a game of budgetary chicken, hurtling the federal government toward a possible shutdown in a...
High Reward From Targeting High Risk
February 18, 2011 |
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton supposedly observed “because that’s where the money is.” Not a bad maxim, and for a...
Butcher Block Budgeting
February 11, 2011 |
More than a third of the way through fiscal year 2011, and we’re finally getting to the end game on finalizing the federal spending...
Payback Time
February 04, 2011 |
Now that the sale of American weapons to foreign governments is in the news again, we’re reminded of the billions of dollars taxpayers...
The Big Budget Chill
January 28, 2011 |
Considering all the talk about freezes around town, you would think we were having a record cold snap in D.C. Instead it’s a flurry of...
Heckling the Budget Ref
January 20, 2011 |
Everybody knows that for competitive sports to be fair, you have to have an impartial referee. Couple that with the notion that politics...
50 Years of the Ike “Complex”
January 14, 2011 |
Monday will mark the 50th anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s unfortunately prescient and unheeded warning to the American...
Budget Cut Smorgasbord
January 07, 2011 |
The new House Republican majority has talked a lot about cutting spending. General comments like: rolling spending back to fiscal year...
Appropriating the Appropriations Committee
December 23, 2010 |
With 60 members, the House Appropriations Committee has been one of the largest committees in Congress and one of the most coveted...
Omnibust
December 17, 2010 |
One of the problems with brinksmanship is that it leaves you with virtually no good options if you fail. A massive omnibus spending bill...
Legislative Hobos
December 10, 2010 |
The last legislative trains are pulling out of Capitol Hill station and there are a bunch of hobo provisions trying to catch a ride....
Thanks and No Thanks
November 24, 2010 |
Happy Thanksgiving, taxpayers! We hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday with friends and family. In the spirit of the holiday, we...
Earmarks are Just the Beginning
November 19, 2010 |
We find ourselves at the beginning of the fight for spending transparency and accountability, not the end. Sure, this week the House...
Shoot the Messenger
November 12, 2010 |
Any quaint notion that Congress’s efforts to rein in our deficit would be smooth sailing went out the window in the last 48...
Bridge the Partisan Budget Divide
November 04, 2010 |
As the dust settles over the 2010 elections and the final handful of races are settled, we can clear out the balloons and confetti and...
All Hallows Election Eve
October 28, 2010 |
No matter who wins what on November 2nd, taxpayers will be waiting for months to see if they are getting a trick or treat from the next...
Whither FY11 Spending
October 21, 2010 |
As the ball dropped on fiscal year 2010, Congress passed a stop gap funding measure to keep the government’s lights on until December...
Swigging Subsidies
October 14, 2010 |
Ethanol boosters could have been accused of swigging some of their product last week when they came out with their proposal to replace...
Silencing Parochial Pleas
October 07, 2010 |
One of the ways to tell if opposition to budget cuts is purely parochial is if the howls from a small set of complaining lawmakers is...
Good Times Bad Times
September 30, 2010 |
The federal bailout of the nation’s financial institutions (a.k.a. TARP - Troubled Asset Relief Program) expires Monday, and taxpayers...
Show of Hands
September 23, 2010 |
Okay, you’re the President. And you are about to address a joint session of Congress. You walk into the well of the House of...
Sowing Cynicism
September 16, 2010 |
Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, was admonished by his Uncle Ben that with great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Sam should give...
Get’er Done
September 09, 2010 |
After starting out like a hare, the 111th Congress is loping toward sine die (adjournment) like a tortoise. Although they’re scheduled...
No Future for Taxpayers in FutureGen
September 02, 2010 |
In a feeble attempt to rebrand and repackage a bad idea, the Department of Energy announced last month that our old friend, Futuregen,...
Deficit + Earmarks ≠ Votes
August 26, 2010 |
Much has been written about voter angst and the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington sentiment. The electorate’s wrath, however, hasn’t shown...
Five Years and Billions Later
August 19, 2010 |
Five years ago, on August 25th, a category one hurricane made landfall on Florida’s southeast coast and churned through Miami, causing...
The Trustee Budget Dilemma
August 12, 2010 |
Social Security has its diamond birthday tomorrow. And not surprisingly, at 75, the program is showing some age, dipping into a cash flow...
Uncle Sam Shouldn’t Bankroll Lawmaker Libraries
August 05, 2010 |
The only two constants in life: death and taxes. Congress has decided to combine the two by sending tens of millions of tax dollars, in...
Driving Transparency
July 29, 2010 |
This week, the same committee that five years ago foisted the Bridge to Nowhere on the American taxpayer went a different direction. The...
Contracting Naughty and Nice List
July 22, 2010 |
When a parent ignores bad grades but still gets their wayward teen a new car, the lesson is that screwing up is not only ok—it might...
Last Call for Ethanol
July 15, 2010 |
Like a sailor on a late night bender, corn ethanol boosters are belly up to the bar trying to cajole another drink from the subsidy tap...
Don’t Melt on Renewable Royalties
July 08, 2010 |
This week brought scorching heat to much of the country, straining air conditioning (taking out a unit here at TCS) and leaving people...
End Dependence Day
June 30, 2010 |
With apologies to Thomas Jefferson:
When in the course of fiscal events, it becomes necessary for the people to dissolve the political...
Energizing Accountability
June 24, 2010 |
Like a parent taking the car keys away from a teenager who has racked up too many tickets, Congress is finally going to make the...
Whatsupp??
June 17, 2010 |
Congressional leadership is busy trying to figure out how to squeeze more funding into this year’s budget. But concerns about the deficit...
Budgetary Act of (C)omission
June 10, 2010 |
In recent weeks there have been a series of closed door meetings here in Washington that could have long term consequences for taxpayers....
Spilling Subsidies to BP
June 03, 2010 |
The recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates how risky oil and gas drilling really is. For the affected crew members, Gulf...
Tax Extenders is a Go?
May 26, 2010 |
It looks like today may just be the day. Every year, Congress goes through the same ritual of renewing tax breaks for a small group of...
Barging Through the Treasury
May 20, 2010 |
In Washington, a cabal of special interests is greedily pushing for another bailout. This time, it’s some of the biggest users of the...
Battle of the Bulge
May 13, 2010 |
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sounded the charge against a cunning enemy that felled many a budget warrior before him: the spending...
Budgeting Failure
May 06, 2010 |
We pick up the story with the family anxiously sitting around the table. Their debt is high, finances are tight, and tough decisions...
Deep Budgetary Impact
April 29, 2010 |
Did you see the one where the President announces a plan to build a spacecraft to enable astronauts to land on an asteroid? Where a White...
Squeezing the Earmark Balloon
April 22, 2010 |
Overreaching to the point of ridiculousness can sometimes return results – in the opposite direction.
Last month, House Appropriations...
Clean the Climate Bill
April 15, 2010 |
Several senators are planning to mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by releasing a bill targeting climate change. The House passed...
Nuclear Posturing
April 08, 2010 |
The release this week of the long-awaited road map for U.S. nuclear weapons policy was met by some cheers for its commitment to arms...
Bailout Piggy Bank
April 01, 2010 |
The recently announced sale of federally owned Citigroup shares left many politicians salivating over the extra walking around cash they...
Spring Budget Cleaning
March 25, 2010 |
It’s time to clean budgetary house. For the last several months, both the House and Senate have been consumed in a messy healthcare...
Spotlight on Accountability
March 18, 2010 |
Sunshine week is drawing to a close in Washington, DC. This annual event highlights efforts to get better access to government...
Tanking the Taxpayer
March 12, 2010 |
Eight years, three requests for proposals, two criminal convictions, one sustained bid protest and a lot of bad mojo, and the victor in...
Tax Freeloaders
March 05, 2010 |
The Senate is working on a compliment to the recently passed $15 billion jobs bill. This nearly $150 billion package is supposed to help...
Budget Dieting Fibs
February 26, 2010 |
Anyone who has gone on a diet knows that as soon as you start fibbing – holiday snacks don’t count, Super Bowl dip is light (colored),...
Taxpayers Getting Nuked
February 19, 2010 |
Compulsive gamblers are perpetually looking for the big score. Always thinking that the next card will draw that inside straight or the...
Taxpayers Plowed Under
February 12, 2010 |
Much of Washington has ground to a halt after being buried by an epic series of snowstorms over the last week. But despite the wheels of...
Pentagon Pipe Dreams
February 05, 2010 |
Pentagon watchers doubled their caffeine intake this week to get through a $700 billion defense budget request along with the Quadrennial...
Stimulus: The Sequel
January 29, 2010 |
Here we are again. It’s January and Congress is considering an economic stimulus bill—again.
Economists tell us the recession has...
Step One: Admit You Have a Problem
January 22, 2010 |
Experts on addiction always say that the first step to solving the problem is admitting you have one. Thankfully, some lawmakers have...
Navigating Budget Cuts
January 15, 2010 |
The old saw “if at first you don’t succeed try, try again” may have first been uttered by a budgeteer because it certainly takes...
Playing Secret Santa for Fannie and Freddie
January 08, 2010 |
Twas the night before Christmas and in the White House, spinmeisters were stirring trying to churn something out. While taxpayers were...
A New Year for Taxpayers
January 01, 2010 |
As Taxpayers for Common Sense staff make their way back to DC, steeled for a new year of making government work, below you will find the...
TCS Greatest Hits: Pick the Top Wastebasket Title
December 23, 2009 |
To mark the end of 2009 and the beginning of our 15th year of service to taxpayers, TCS staff selected the top ten Wastebasket titles...
Trillion Dollar Rush to the Exits
December 18, 2009 |
Quickly scrambling to get out of town for the holidays, the House of Representatives was a flurry of activity on Wednesday. The chamber...
Bailout Bank Bowl Championship Series
December 11, 2009 |
Last weekend marked the kickoff of the college bowl season. But as Americans relax and watch their alma maters or favorite regional...
Sur-Tax-A-Lot
December 04, 2009 |
A group of powerful lawmakers recently proposed a surtax to pay for costs associated with the war in Afghanistan. While we have regularly...
Giving Budget Thanks
November 25, 2009 |
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we thought we would pause to give thanks for a few budgetary blessings and push the hefty challenges off...
War Profiteers Stealing Our Lunch Money
November 20, 2009 |
You would think that $8.5 billion would buy a lot of chow for our soldiers in Iraq. But instead of purchasing grub for mess hall trays,...
More Cash for Real Clunkers
November 13, 2009 |
With all the other issues dominating the headlines, it's easy to forget taxpayers are still dealing with, and face major risks from, the...
Popping the Hydrogen Hoopla Balloon
November 06, 2009 |
Congress snuck a Halloween budget trick into the energy spending bill President Obama signed last week. Well, actually it was a $100...
Take it to the Limit (One More Time)
October 29, 2009 |
Now that we have the Eagles in your head, let’s use the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band to talk about something that will give you a...
New Fiscal Year’s Resolution
October 22, 2009 |
It appears Autumn has finally arrived in Washington. The days are shorter, the leaves are turning, and the air is a bit more crisp. But...
Intensive Care Budgets
October 15, 2009 |
This week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the must-read Long-Term Fiscal Outlook Fall 2009, and it’s a tear-jerker...
Gimmick Comes Home to Roost
October 08, 2009 |
Happy New (fiscal) Year! Last week, Congress hurriedly passed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep government running. Once again,...
Insider Trading on the Taxpayer Dime
October 01, 2009 |
One year ago, Congress was busy passing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a $700 billion bailout of the banking and financial...
Double Trouble
September 24, 2009 |
One lesson Congress flunks over and over is the Economics 101 principle of sunk costs. Your mother knew it well: She always told you...
Border Waste Reruns
September 17, 2009 |
Jimmy Buffet could have testified at this week’s hearing about ongoing federal border protection initiatives. As you watched the same old...
Papering Over Our Problems
September 10, 2009 |
Less than one year ago, many in Washington believed the world was on the brink of financial meltdown. The collapse of mega-investment...
Burning Cash
September 03, 2009 |
As he trudged recently through the charred landscape of the Station fire outside of Los Angeles, California Governor Arnold...
Red Ink Rising
August 27, 2009 |
As Uncle Sam keeps churning out the cash in an attempt to bolster the economy, one eye has to be on the budgetary needle in the red zone....
Delta House Missile Defense
August 20, 2009 |
Faced with proposed budgetary terminations, in a move that would make Bluto and his Animal House fraternity brothers proud, missile...
Katrina’s Legacy
August 13, 2009 |
With the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has finally released their years-overdue...
Doubling Down on Clunkers
August 06, 2009 |
Before they skipped town to enjoy the August recess, lawmakers anted up another $2 billion for the "Cash for Clunkers" program. Planned...
Budgets Binging on Stimulus Spending
July 30, 2009 |
Taxpayers may experience an unintended funding hangover from the stimulus passed in the New Year. On top of the $787 billion up-front...
Inspecting the Murky Bailout
July 23, 2009 |
A couple months shy of its first birthday, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), is verging on toddlerhood. Born as a...
A Million (Dollar) Reasons for Earmarks
July 16, 2009 |
This week, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee huddled in closed session to vote on next year’s Defense Department spending...
Bypassed Budget Cuts
July 09, 2009 |
July is check-writing season for Congress. The House and Senate churn out spending bills almost daily in a rush to make the October 1st...
Dancing with the Czars
July 01, 2009 |
As the day celebrating our country’s declaration of independence from the British crown approaches, we are noticing vestiges of the old...
Planning to Pave Without Planning to Pay
June 25, 2009 |
You could be forgiven if you thought you saw Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman wandering around Capitol Hill recently. Worthy of his motto...
Defending Waste
June 18, 2009 |
It’s all too rare for us to pass out gold stars for Congressional reticence around budget time. So, we’re happy to report that fiscal and...
A Contracting Pandemic
June 11, 2009 |
Sadly, contractors wasting billions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan is no longer news. Now the latest report retelling this fiscal...
President Grant’s Mining Law Needs Real Reform
June 04, 2009 |
There's a good chance that this Congress will pass a law reforming one of the largest, oldest giveaways on the books - The General Mining...
Stressed Out by the Bailout
May 28, 2009 |
Cha-Ching! That’s the sound you’ve heard over the last several months as about 600 companies walked away from the federal cash register,...
Catching the Last Supplemental Gravy Train
May 21, 2009 |
When President Obama announced in April that this supplemental war spending bill would be the last, the rail-related metaphors started...
Barack the Knife?
May 14, 2009 |
Hope springs eternal with the annual budget submission. In what has become an annual ritual, the President sends Congress a list of...
Auto Bailout Infomercial
May 07, 2009 |
Like a late night infomercial, lawmakers in both parties are hawking “Cash for Clunkers” - a plan that will boost auto sales and help...
Budget Brinksmanship
April 30, 2009 |
This week, the floors of the House and Senate were full of the normal partisan cacophony that surrounds adoption of the nation’s budget....
Rebooting Government Reform
April 23, 2009 |
As Americans, reforming government is our birthright. The first and most successful reform effort occurred in Philadelphia in 1787 when a...
Putting a Spyglass on the Fed
April 16, 2009 |
With the recent U.S. Navy actions off the Somali coast, the public has been understandably interested in pirates. But they missed a...
Electronic Earmark Easter Egg Hunt
April 09, 2009 |
This week, many lawmakers sent their constituents on a virtual earmark Easter egg hunt. For the first time, members were required to list...
Space Home Alabama
April 02, 2009 |
While the world waits to see what North Korea launches into the skies next week, missile defense boosters are wasting no time in using...
Stimulus Dreams
March 26, 2009 |
With the passage of the stimulus package, project sugar plums started dancing in the heads of community and state leaders. Many already...
Congress Strikes Out
March 19, 2009 |
The recent contortions Congress and the Administration are going through over lucrative bonuses to executives at American International...
This is Your Money
March 12, 2009 |
Transparency is the new buzz word in Washington. The most open and transparent government ever; transparent stimulus spending; making...
Budget Cut Battles
March 06, 2009 |
In the budget documents released last week, the President proposed some long overdue, common sense cuts to wasteful programs. Of course,...
Do More on the Deficit
February 27, 2009 |
In his address to Congress, President Obama pledged to cut the annual budget deficit in half by the end of his term. The problem is,...
And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
February 20, 2009 |
Congress has been pretty busy recently. In the last six months, they have run for reelection and have spent at least $1.5 trillion...
Holding Stimulus Spending Accountable
February 13, 2009 |
Congress is poised to pass a $789 billion stimulus bill intended to jolt the economy. After a lot of debate, tens of billions of dollars...
Shaving the Stimulus
February 06, 2009 |
After months of inexorable upwards growth, there is finally some momentum to shave the size of the now more than $930 billion economic...
No Time for Partisanship
January 30, 2009 |
With our national economy on the ropes and job losses skyrocketing, the House of Representatives this week passed the $819 billion...
Making Government Work
January 23, 2009 |
In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama made clear his vision for government. Midway through his speech, he said that it is “not...
A Legacy of Debt
January 16, 2009 |
When President Bush takes his last flight on Marine One next week, he will leave behind a national debt that increased by about $5...
Let’s Stop the Congressional Pay Raise
January 09, 2009 |
While Americans across the country are counting pennies, concerned about keeping a steady paycheck, lawmakers are getting a pay...
Toward an Effective Economic Stimulus
January 02, 2009 |
When the new Congress is sworn in next week, they will begin work on another economic stimulus bill aimed at turning our economy around. ...
Twelve Days of Congress
December 19, 2008 |
In the spirit of the holidays, we at Taxpayers for Common Sense wanted to end the year on a high note, or at least an off-note. So here...
The Changes We Need
December 12, 2008 |
The watchword for the recent election was "change." Considering the mandate for change and soaring costs of a sight unseen stimulus...
Detroit Bailout Déjà Vu
December 05, 2008 |
The proposed bailout of Detroit automakers brings a sense of déjà vu to Washington. Not just because of the 1979 bailout of Chrysler,...
Taxpayers Say Thanks
November 26, 2008 |
In these tough economic and budgetary times, we wanted to give thanks to some of this year’s most inspirational and tireless lawmakers...
Ending the Backroom Bailout
November 21, 2008 |
During negotiations over the bailout bill, Congress was able to force the Administration to accept several oversight and accountability...
Paving the Way for Stimulus Spending
November 14, 2008 |
Congress is scheduled to return next week for a “lame duck” session to pass a stimulus package to help jump start the flagging U.S....
The Next Steps
November 06, 2008 |
After this historic election, one thing is clear: With the current state of our economy and country, we need our newly elected officials...
Banking Bailout Bucks
October 30, 2008 |
This week the Treasury Department released $125 billion of the $700 billion bailout package to nine banks. This cash infusion will buy...
Deficits Do Matter
October 23, 2008 |
This week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke observed that it is "appropriate" to consider a "significant" stimulus. Of course, the...
Credit Card Congress
October 16, 2008 |
Over the last two decades, personal debt in America has skyrocketed. Many of us have been living beyond our means and taken on more debt...
Who’s Watching the Bailout?
October 09, 2008 |
Only a few days after President Bush signed the 2008 Emergency Economic Stability Act, also known as the $810 billion bailout, the...
Bailout Brouhaha
October 02, 2008 |
Taxpayers are justifiably wary of seeing $700 billion of their hard earned tax dollars bailing out the bad debts of Wall Street bad...
Financially Bailing out the Bailout
September 25, 2008 |
Missing in the debate over whether taxpayers should bailout Wall Street is any plan or attempt to explain how to pay for the $700 billion...
Backdoor Bailout
September 18, 2008 |
In these tough economic times, Detroit automakers have been pounding the pavement this week in search of a new bailout. Their weapon of...
Uncle Sam, What’s In Your Wallet?
September 11, 2008 |
Congress has been on a pretty stunning spending spree recently – even by Washington, DC standards. Earlier this year Uncle Sam sent out...
Lessons from Katrina and Gustav
September 04, 2008 |
While the country was watching Hurricane Gustav and the Republican Convention this week, the Bush Administration finally killed one of...
When Congress Returns
August 28, 2008 |
After a five week hiatus, lawmakers will be returning soon to Washington for one final legislative sprint before the November elections....
Our Troops Deserve Better
August 21, 2008 |
The election system that serves our military and other citizens serving away from home is in shambles. In the most recent national...
Finding New Fixes for the Highway Trust Fund
August 14, 2008 |
Uncle Sam collects the federal gas tax and deposits the proceeds into an account called the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). This revenue pays...
End Taxpayer Subsidies to Political Conventions
August 07, 2008 |
Later this month, Invesco field in Denver will be rocking. People won’t be cheering on the Broncos, but screaming at the top of their...
Presidential Hot Air
July 30, 2008 |
Both Presidential candidates have recently released plans to tackle the struggling economy. Not too surprisingly, both proposals are long...
Open The Doors to Congress
July 24, 2008 |
A lot of lawmakers have worked towards making government more open and transparent. It follows the time-tested principle of “the more...
Bailout Bingo
July 17, 2008 |
As the economy continues to sour and the housing market sputters, lawmakers stand ready to unleash their response: a financial bailout....
Congress’ Approval Ratings Well Deserved
July 08, 2008 |
New polling suggests that approval ratings for Washington lawmakers have hit rock bottom. This poll of 1,000 likely voters reveals that...
Next President’s Challenge: Medicare and Social Security
July 02, 2008 |
Arguably the biggest budgetary challenge facing the next president is the Social Security and Medicare programs. With the first baby...
Economic Stimulus Falls Flat
June 26, 2008 |
Now that Uncle Sam has mailed Americans a majority of the checks intended to help jump start the economy, the question is, are you...
Lessons from the Latest Flood Fiasco
June 19, 2008 |
As the flood waters start to recede, lawmakers are gearing up to send the first sandbag stuffed with emergency aid for flood relief....
Funhouse Accounting at the Pentagon
June 12, 2008 |
The Pentagon’s latest sob story about having to borrow from its main budget in order to pay for the Iraq war may sound dramatic. But this...
Election-year Subsidy Surge
June 05, 2008 |
Florida lawmakers are hoping that the mixture of election year politics and the upcoming hurricane season will deliver a perfect storm...
Zero to a Trillion in 60 Seconds
May 29, 2008 |
Lawmakers have recently gone into spending overdrive. Eyeing the upcoming election, they have completed or are putting final touches on...
Pentagon Pork Lards Spending Bill
May 22, 2008 |
As they considered the massive emergency Iraq supplemental spending bill this week, Senators cut some of the worst earmarks and bloated...
Fiscal Responsibility Proves Costly
May 15, 2008 |
When the Democrats swept into power last year, they promised to restore fiscal responsibility in Congress. Key to their plan was...
Congress Needs to Take on Cost Overruns
May 08, 2008 |
Too often, the lawmakers can't agree on where there is waste in government. The problem is that everything in Washington, D.C. seems to...
The Farm Subsidy Derby
May 01, 2008 |
As they sip their mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby this weekend, racehorse owners are close to securing a new Washington...
Political Promises
April 24, 2008 |
Taxpayers have become accustomed to the whoppers candidates tell on the campaign trail: A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage,...
Earmark From Nowhere
April 17, 2008 |
First there was the Bridge to Nowhere, now comes the earmark from nowhere.
The project: a $10 million interchange between I-75 and...
Overstaying Its Welcome
April 10, 2008 |
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program to track arrival and departure of foreign visitors has been mired in technical...
Stranger Than Fiction
April 02, 2008 |
It sounds like the plot of a Tom Clancy thriller: A tiny company run out of an unmarked Miami Beach office by a barely legal troublemaker...
A Shot in the Dark
March 27, 2008 |
Back in 1983, when President Reagan unveiled his vision of a weapons system that could intercept and destroy ballistic missiles before they...
Rewarding Failure
March 20, 2008 |
How many parents would use candy to compel their child to stop their bad behavior? Yet that’s just the tack that Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)...
Stop Legislative Land Swaps
March 12, 2008 |
The federal government is the single biggest property owner in the country, particularly in the Western United States. And in many cases,...
Caving on Farm Bill Reform
March 06, 2008 |
Every time you blink around these parts, there are billions being added for the yet to be finalized 2007 farm bill.
At a time when farm...
Shooting the Moon
February 29, 2008 |
When the Defense Department (DoD) used ballistic missiles to whack a wayward satellite out of the sky last week, much of the ensuing...
A Missed Opportunity
February 22, 2008 |
Important decisions in Congress aren’t always just about passing laws and legislation, sometimes they are more mundane.
When Mississippi...
Practicing What You Preach
February 15, 2008 |
Lawmakers who have been critical of the hundreds of billions of wasted tax dollars in Iraq are setting the stage for adding billions of...
Same Old Song and Dance
February 08, 2008 |
On Monday the 2009 budget was Texas-two-stepped out to the public, but not surprisingly Congress didn’t want to “trip the light...
War Spending Games
January 31, 2008 |
When President Bush hands Congress his budget on Monday, he’ll no doubt boast about cutting the fat from domestic programs and urge...
First Do No Harm
January 24, 2008 |
Like most Americans, we deplore Congressional gridlock. But a hundred billion dollar legislative train speeding down the tracks scares us...
Losing Ground on Earmarks
January 18, 2008 |
Border Boondoggle
January 11, 2008 |
One of the most popular refrains in the race for the Presidency is the need to “secure our borders.” The near universal political support...
Resolutions for a Fiscally Responsible Congress
January 04, 2008 |
Every year millions of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Following this age-old tradition, and to start 2008 off on the right foot,...
Reformers Rebuffed in Farm Bill Debate
December 20, 2007 |
The farm bill drifted to its anti-climatic finale last week in the seemingly rudderless Senate. We will have to wait for the New Year to...
Same Pork, Different Dance
December 14, 2007 |
The story of a new billion-dollar defense boondoggle is eerily familiar. The competition for the Air Force’s multi-billion dollar...
The Great Budget Debacle
December 07, 2007 |
The biggest lesson that Washington lawmakers should have taken from the 1995 government shutdown is that people of all political stripes...
Giving Thanks for Signs of Progress
November 30, 2007 |
Despite popular belief, not everyone in Washington is trying to rip us off or pad the pockets of the special interests. There are a...
Top Turkeys
November 21, 2007 |
Another Thanksgiving has arrived, and our thoughts naturally turn to the big, plump turkey that will adorn our table tomorrow. And while...
The Fires Next Time
November 16, 2007 |
Last month’s fires in southern California were nothing less than catastrophic. As we watched American homes literally turn to ashes on...
Record Prices, Record Ripoff
November 09, 2007 |
One of the first lessons we learn as kids is that taking something without permission that belongs to somebody else is stealing. ...
Cultivating Cash
November 03, 2007 |
With farm crops at record-high prices, you would think the Congress would seriously consider eliminating the tired old system of farm...
Make Mining Companies Pay Their Share
October 25, 2007 |
Uncle Sam has been giving away gold, silver, copper and other minerals that are extracted from taxpayer-owned federal land for free for...
Money for Nothing
October 18, 2007 |
It is no secret that Lawmakers like to spend money on their favorite companies and interests. But, rather than having to justify spending...
Drowning in Debt
October 11, 2007 |
When you find yourself in a financial hole, the first step to getting out is to stop digging.
Except if you’re in Congress. While the...
Budget Breakdown
October 03, 2007 |
For the first time in five years, Congress has not finished a single spending bill on time.
Lawmakers like to wax poetic about...
One Down, One to Go
September 27, 2007 |
Ding dong, the bridge is dead.
The $398 million “Bridge to Nowhere”, the Gravina Access Project from Ketchikan, Alaska to sparsely...
Choking on Interest
September 20, 2007 |
When lawmakers debate the role of government, they usually wax on about the biggest and most expensive pieces of the federal budget pie:...
Wall Street Windfall
September 13, 2007 |
A lucky few Wall Street types have been abusing a loophole in the U.S. tax code so aggressively that they now have a lower effective tax...
A Tale of Two Chambers: The Senate
September 06, 2007 |
In the wake of last November’s mid-term elections, transparency was the hot new political buzzword in Washington and earmark reform was...
A Tale of Two Chambers: The House
August 30, 2007 |
The new congressional leadership made earmark reform and transparency a top priority. Now that we are deep into this legislative session,...
Katrina’s Rough Ride
August 22, 2007 |
Without a doubt, Hurricane Katrina was the most devastating hurricane to ever hit U.S. shores. Hurricane Camille was stronger and...
Raising Cane in Congress
August 16, 2007 |
Florida’s sugar barons, the Fanjul family, who have made their millions off of federal sugar subsidies, are a bit miffed about a new TV...
Pork Over Transportation Priorities
August 08, 2007 |
Last week’s I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis could be a warning—a modern day canary in the coal mine—that much of the country’s...
Cram Session on Capitol Hill
August 01, 2007 |
For weeks, Congress has been putting off the real work it needs to get done. Now, they are making their plans for a month-long August break...
Congress’ Long Red Road
July 26, 2007 |
The accounts used to pay for federal road construction and mass transit are going broke. And fast.
According to the President’s Office...
Crop Insurance Companies’ Growing Profits
July 19, 2007 |
Crop Insurance Companies' Growing Profits
Insurance is always a bit like gambling. But in a bizarre twist, crop insurance pits...
Fueling the Final Frontier
July 11, 2007 |
In January, when China destroyed one of its own weather satellites, scientists worried that the explosion would result in a profusion of...
Ruckus in Ramstein
July 05, 2007 |
The Pentagon’s largest single-building military construction project languishes unfinished because it is over-budget, behind schedule, and...
Congress Should Take a Pass on Pay Raise
June 28, 2007 |
Earlier this week, Congress ordered up a pay raise for itself. Yes, you heard that correctly. During tough fiscal times and unbalanced...
Another Day in the Farm Bill Kangaroo Court
June 21, 2007 |
With all the pomp and circumstance of a real legislative hearing, this week a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee unanimously...
Return of the Earmark
June 14, 2007 |
If you told us earlier this year that just having earmarks in spending bills would make us happy, we would have thought that you were a...
Crazy for Coal
June 08, 2007 |
The definition of insanity is often cited as doing the same thing the same way over and over and expecting different results. Well,...
Hiding the Bacon
May 31, 2007 |
The playground taunt “That’s for me to know and you to find out” seems to have become an operating principle on earmarks for the Senate...
Pimp My Budget
May 24, 2007 |
With apologies to MTV's "Pimp My Ride"
What does Congress do when there just aren't enough taxpayer dollars available to feed all of...
Contractors Behaving Badly
May 16, 2007 |
Thousands of contractors doing business with Uncle Sam are stiffing the federal government (pdf) for billions of dollars in...
Gold Diggers
May 09, 2007 |
When lawmakers make legislative mistakes, it can take a long time to fix the error. That’s the nature of a deliberative body. But today...
A Reliable Rip-Off
April 26, 2007 |
As the federal budget wends its way through the nation’s capital, an optimistically named program tucked deep in the Department of...
Water Bill Floats Through Congress
April 19, 2007 |
Lawmakers this week passed a $16.5 billion water project bill (H.R. 1495), containing more than 800 parochial pork barrel projects for...
Congressional Couch Potatoes
April 12, 2007 |
As any local gym owner can attest, their businesses are packed in early January with folks resolved to work off some of the holiday...
Ethanol-a-holics
April 05, 2007 |
The Great Plains Gold Rush is on. Fueled by government mandates and taxpayer subsidies for ethanol, the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
Veni, Vidi, Veto
March 29, 2007 |
Something miraculous happened early last November. The White House found its long-lost veto pen. Whether it was stuck in the Oval Office...
The Buck Should Stop Here
March 22, 2007 |
The House and Senate are currently debating the merits of different versions of bills to provide more than $120 billion for emergency...
Lawmakers in Glass Houses…
October 23, 2006 |
The silly season is well upon us. As the election grows close, the political divisions between the parties appear deeper than ever. In...
Fortified Waste
October 03, 2006 |
The President today signed into law legislation approving a 700-mile wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. On its way out of town last...
Congress’s Growth Industry
September 25, 2006 |
With Election Day just six short weeks away, at-risk Republicans and hopeful Democrats finally found a cause worthy of bipartisan ...
Half-Baked
September 18, 2006 |
Every time we turn around, the recently passed House earmark transparency bill gets a little more confusing and a lot less clear. When...
Legislative Lesson Plan
September 05, 2006 |
After a month away for some baby-kissin’ and hand-shakin’ on the campaign trail, Congress is back this week and faces a daunting pile of...
Big Profits in the Big Easy
August 27, 2006 |
While the Lower Ninth Ward tragically continues to look like a scene from a post-apocalyptic scene in a movie, the anniversary of...
Break the Veto Streak
May 11, 2006 |
Sports and politics are both noted for some famous streaks. Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak, Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak, even...
Fool’s Gold
April 19, 2006 |
The administration and some congressional lawmakers are pushing to dust off nuclear reprocessing, a proposition that would be dangerous...
Contractors Gone Wild
March 31, 2006 |
Every year, Uncle Sam pays contractors $320 billion to assist with government activities. These contractors purchase or produce...
Pulled Pork
March 15, 2006 |
Over the last few years, Congress has devoured legislative pork more like they are licking their chops at their favorite barbecue joint...
Big Error Nets Billions for Big Oil
March 06, 2006 |
In what may be one the dumbest or most devilish mistakes in our nation’s history, the Interior Department announced this week that...
Looking for Cuts in All the Wrong Places
February 13, 2006 |
In the $2.7 trillion budget the President sent to Congress this week, he proposes cutting or terminating 141 federal programs to save...
Federal Flood Fiasco
January 31, 2006 |
The record-breaking hurricane season of 2005 destroyed thousands of lives and left Americans wondering out-loud about the effectiveness...
The Corrupting Power of Earmarks
January 20, 2006 |
Fueled by unprecedented political scandals, both political parties in both the House and Senate have ushered in the year with a debate...
The Cost of Congressional Corruption
January 13, 2006 |
A lot of lawmakers and high powered lobbyists appear likely to turn their Gucci pinstripes in for prison stripes in the not so distant...
A Dark Day for the Dukestir
December 05, 2005 |
Rep. Duke Cunningham is in a whole lot of trouble. On Monday, he resigned from the Congress and pleaded guilty to receiving at least $2.4...
Burning Bridges to Nowhere
November 22, 2005 |
After months of unending criticism, taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Congress gave in to public outrage and...
How a Spending Cut Became an Increase
November 14, 2005 |
Up is down and down is up on Capitol Hill. After taking a national tongue lashing for their refusal to cut back on their wasteful ways in...
Big Oil Blowout
October 27, 2005 |
America has seen its fair share of tough times these days: an ongoing war, a spate of devastating natural disasters, and a stumbling...
The Spineless Senate
October 20, 2005 |
Last night, Senators had a golden opportunity to get their spending priorities straight in light of massive budget deficits and the tens...
Bechtel Bonanza
October 18, 2005 |
Sometimes, it’s very hard to tell who our government officials are working for. With high-paid jobs in the private sector only a phone...
Cashing in on Katrina
October 10, 2005 |
It’s a momentous occasion whenever Congress does anything quickly, but truly historic when the subject is money. But like a cat on a hot...
Flying High on the Taxpayer Dime
October 02, 2005 |
Years of fiscal irresponsibility and the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina have left the federal government neck-deep in red ink....
The Dangers of the Iron Triangle
September 22, 2005 |
In the wake of the horrific events in New Orleans and the Gulf, all eyes have turned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal...
FEMA’s Fiscal Disaster
September 08, 2005 |
The "reassignment" of Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), may be a good political move for an...
The Duke of Hazard
August 25, 2005 |
Congressman Duke Cunningham is in big trouble. Just yesterday, federal prosecutors declared that Rep. Cunningham “demanded and received”...
Outerspace Waste
August 17, 2005 |
The next time you go outside, look up. On a clear day, you might just get a chance to see your tax dollars going to waste.
For decades,...
Kill the Bill Vol. 2: The Highway Bill
August 15, 2005 |
Next time you are stuck in gridlock, think for a moment about your gas tax dollars going to benefit Wal-Mart, Rev. Pat Robertson, or real...
Kill the Bill Vol. 1: The Energy Bill
August 04, 2005 |
Lately Presidential vetoes have been as scarce as the Ivory Billed-Woodpecker. Not since John Quincy Adams has a president served a full...
Hosed by Water Subsidies
July 25, 2005 |
California’s Central Valley Project, the irrigation plan that has turned central California’s deserts into lush, green farmland, has...
Choking on Asbestos
July 14, 2005 |
Surprise, surprise, once again Washington lawmakers have found a way to waste your hard-earned tax dollars. The Senate is now working to...
Up the Fiscal Creek without a Paddle
July 11, 2005 |
At a time of stark fiscal realities, you might think that our country’s lawmakers would want to cut the fat out of our federal budget....
Drunk on Ethanol
June 30, 2005 |
For years, big agribusiness has eagerly pushed corn ethanol as an alternative to oil. The trouble is, ethanol doesn’t really work as a...
Out of Gas
June 23, 2005 |
With oil hovering around $60 a barrel, you might think that the energy bill now being debated in the Senate would do something about high...
Home Improvement, DC Style
June 16, 2005 |
Once upon a time, Washington lawmakers decided which defense contractors would get the biggest government contracts based upon national...
The Department of Waste
June 09, 2005 |
Newsflash! This may come as a shock for some of you, but a new report shows that the Department of Defense (DOD) routinely wastes your...
Coastal Piracy
June 02, 2005 |
The energy bill has become an annual ritual in Washington, and every time Congress starts working on it, greedy legislators start...
A Ticking Tax Bomb
May 25, 2005 |
With dreams of filibusters dancing through their heads, there are very few things Democratic and Republican Senators can agree on lately....
A Pain in the Tongass
May 15, 2005 |
Members of the timber industry are just about the only people in the world for whom money does indeed grow on trees. What’s more, if...
Banking on Deficits
May 05, 2005 |
When people talk about federal deficits in this town, verbs like “record” and nouns like “crisis” usually dominate the airspace. In...
Martha Stewart Living at the TSA
April 27, 2005 |
Protecting the nation is serious business, and as always we are rooting for the government to get the job done. But a recent report by the...
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
April 18, 2005 |
We’ll say this for energy industry lobbyists: they’re persistent. No matter how many times you knock ‘em down, they just get up and come...
Wal-Mart Welfare
April 10, 2005 |
Americans love clear highways and are willing to pay billions of dollars for the chance that they might one day see what one looks like....
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Social Security Reform
March 28, 2005 |
Last week, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of the Treasury used their position as...
Virtual Insecurity
March 21, 2005 |
Last year, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded the largest contract in its history. It calls for the development of a new...
Port Security, Not Pork Security
March 14, 2005 |
In just a few short years, homeland security grants have become a mainstay of funding for state and local law enforcement efforts. Since...
Is Nothing Sacred?
March 07, 2005 |
Four months ago, in the dead of winter, we announced we would be releasing a comprehensive database of Congressional pork in the $391...
Beach Budget Bingo
February 25, 2005 |
As you dream about your summer vacation, imagine stopping at the bank on your way to the beach, taking out all of your money, and dumping...
A Litmus Test on Spending
February 18, 2005 |
When it comes to congressional pork barrel spending, there has been no holier sacred cow than farm subsidies. So when President Bush...
Driving Up the Deficit
February 11, 2005 |
Federal spending priorities are a little like fashion trends, they have a habit of changing faster than you can say “bell bottoms.” At a...
Just Say Veto
February 04, 2005 |
President Bush will say just about anything to prove that he is going to get serious about fiscal restraint in the federal budget, but he...
Groundhog Day Energy Policy
January 28, 2005 |
Sometimes watchdogging Congress makes you feel like Bill Murray from “Groundhog’s Day.” In the movie, Bill Murray’s day continues...
Homeland Insecurity Spending
January 21, 2005 |
No question in our mind - the President's budget that will be introduced next month will be stuffed with losers and lean on winners. With...
Fear Factor Accounting
January 07, 2005 |
The President's plan to privatize a portion of Social Security relies on spending literally trillions of dollars that we do not have and...
Money Down the Drain
December 15, 2004 |
There's a new California Gold Rush, but instead of panning river beds for gold, it's water itself that is being hauled out by the...
A National Embarrassment
December 06, 2004 |
The omnibus spending bill is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla. Although it only weighs in at 15 pounds, it is 3,320 pages and 14 inches...
Earmark to Nowhere
November 29, 2004 |
During the Thanksgiving holiday, some were lucky enough to dine on "turducken." If you haven't heard about this recently conceived...
Auditing the IRS
November 22, 2004 |
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released tax statistics from the past year revealing that the number of wealthy individuals...
Defense Spending Pork Fest
November 12, 2004 |
Congress is rolling back into town this week to finish up the nine spending bills that remain and a few other housekeeping chores. As...
A Simple Fiscal Plan
November 05, 2004 |
The federal government is living too high on the hog. We are all drinking Dom Perignon on a Schlitz budget. Now that the 2004 elections...
“Soft” on Security Spending?
October 28, 2004 |
This campaign season, both the donkeys and the elephants are making a big stink over security spending. Republicans say that Sen. John...
Swing State Subsidies
October 21, 2004 |
In what is ramping up to be one of the closest elections in our nation's history, it pays to be in a swing state in this year's campaign....
Pork Train Heads Out of Town
October 14, 2004 |
The 108th Congress has spent this entire year with their sails furled, their anchor down, and their oars in. The two parties have been...
Congress Goes Whole Hog
October 07, 2004 |
Last night, the House passed what was initially intended to be a legislative replacement for a $5 billion illegal export tax break, but...
Snake Bitten By Salmon Subsidies
September 30, 2004 |
For more than two decades, Uncle Sam has dropped the ball on salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake River basin in the Pacific...
Highway Funding Hits a State Roadblock
September 23, 2004 |
Our nation's crumbling roads face more gridlock than we see in Congress on a bad day. In response, federal lawmakers have stuffed the...
Bring Back the Truman Committee
September 16, 2004 |
While estimates vary, we are now rapidly approaching a significant milestone in Iraq: $200 billion spent supporting the war. Massive...
Debate the Deficit
September 09, 2004 |
In their ruthless efforts to define one another, Senator Kerry and President Bush seem more focused on National Guard duty and Swift...
Federal Nips and Tucks
September 02, 2004 |
You probably think of the cable television show "Nip/Tuck" and not the U.S. military when you think of plastic surgery, but when our...
Sold Down the River
August 26, 2004 |
On the Upper Mississippi River, it's déjà vu all over again. Just like the villain in a slasher flick, a multi-billion dollar U.S. Army...
Missile Defense Politics
August 19, 2004 |
One of the recent focuses of President Bush's stump speeches in America's heartland has been to fulfill his 2000 election promise to...
Swing State Energy Policy
August 12, 2004 |
In a speech in the heart of corn country last week, Senator John Kerry introduced his $30 billion plan to solve our nation's energy woes,...
A Bait and Switch on Budget Deficits
August 05, 2004 |
The Administration announced last week that the federal deficit will reach a record $445 billion this year. Self-proclaimed "deficit...
A Tale of Two Programs
July 29, 2004 |
As children pack up and head to college, parents are getting out their checkbooks or the kids are putting the next four years on plastic....
An Ode to Gridlock
July 22, 2004 |
This week Congress adjourns for a six-week vacation full of ritzy political conventions and special interest junkets to faraway lands....
Stumping for Subsidies
July 15, 2004 |
The administration announced this week the evisceration of the publicly popular rule that since 2001 has saved taxpayers millions of...
Billion Dollar Blunders
July 08, 2004 |
Our military is capable of amazing things, virtually unsurpassed in the world. However, according to a new government study, the...
Homeland Honey Jar
June 30, 2004 |
The tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th demonstrated the vulnerability of our nation's capitol. Congress reacted swiftly,...
Wired for Waste
June 24, 2004 |
Back in 1996, Vice President Gore had a noble idea. It was to wire every American classroom to the World Wide Web. The idea came to...
The Fabric of Fiscal Waste
June 17, 2004 |
How do you prepare a pig for winter? He's going to need a sweater, so maybe your best bet is to throw a couple billion dollars to cotton...
Ticketgate
June 09, 2004 |
If we told you that the Pentagon is wasting $100 million, you might think, "Jeez, that's peanuts for the Pentagon." But, it should send...
Don’t Forget Afghanistan
June 03, 2004 |
Iraq has pervasively dominated headlines for quite some time. With all the daunting challenges we face in Iraq and the weighty...
Nuking the Budget
May 27, 2004 |
More than a decade has passed since the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of our most menacing nuclear foe. Despite the dramatic...
Keep BRAC on Track
May 20, 2004 |
Last night, the House of Representatives passed a mammoth $422 billion Defense Authorization bill that delays the next round of military...
No “Blank Check” for War Spending
May 13, 2004 |
Zero, zilch, nothing. That's exactly what the administration put in the 2005 budget for spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, in...
The Costs of Secrecy
May 06, 2004 |
The control of classified government information is necessary to keep our nation safe and secure. However, over the last three years, the...
Contracting Catastrophe
April 29, 2004 |
This past year isn't the first time that the Department of Defense has been criticized for lack of oversight for Halliburton's wartime...
The True Costs of Iraq
April 22, 2004 |
As heavy fighting continues in Iraq and an increasing number of questions are asked about how the Defense Department will continue to...
Ready to Burst
April 15, 2004 |
A proposal floated by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) this year has the potential to result in the...
Coast Guard’s Deepwater in Hot Water
April 08, 2004 |
Once touted as an innovative approach to federal contract management, the multibillion-dollar program to modernize the Coast Guard's...
Road Rage
April 02, 2004 |
The U.S. Forest Service is ignoring a growing crisis of national forest road disrepair, while supporting road subsidies to the timber...
Paved with Pork
March 26, 2004 |
In response to the President's tough talk on congressional big spenders, this week a House Committee week passed a "leaner" $275 billion...
Prescription Propaganda
March 19, 2004 |
During last year's Medicare prescription drug coverage debate in Congress, the sticker price was a major issue, especially considering...
Cronyism, Inc.
March 12, 2004 |
At a congressional hearing on Iraq contracting yesterday, when Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim was asked whether or not it was true...
Lie, Cheat and Steal
March 05, 2004 |
American consumers may receive many benefits from the global economy, like cheap DVD players, stereos, and televisions, but it also...
More Defensive Dominoes Need to Fall
February 27, 2004 |
The Pentagon has cancelled the expensive and increasingly irrelevant Comanche program. At 15 years overdue and many millions over budget,...
A Free Lunch
February 13, 2004 |
Without changing the budget by a single dollar and without proposing any new legislation, the federal government could be collecting at...
Where’s the (Budget) Beef?
February 06, 2004 |
In his proposed $2.4 trillion budget, the President has proposed to shave $4.9 billion off of our half-trillion dollar federal deficit by...
Last Line of Defense
January 30, 2004 |
It's tough for government waste watchers to make new friends in government. For one reason or another, entrenched bureaucrats seem to...
This Talk Ain’t Cheap
January 23, 2004 |
During last week's State of the Union address, President Bush was apparently trying to pose as a disciple of fiscal discipline. That's...
Budget Surplus Fever
January 16, 2004 |
The Senate will take up a massive spending bill next Tuesday that is so larded with frivolous projects it would make a drunken sailor...
Wrong Axe, Mr. President
January 09, 2004 |
For three years straight, we have been hootin' and hollerin' about how important it is for President Bush to pull out the budget axe and...
Lumps of Coal
December 19, 2003 |
During the holiday season, many little American girls and boys are reminded that if they've been bad they might wake up on Christmas day...
A Step Back in Iraq
December 12, 2003 |
This morning Halliburton scrambled to neutralize news that they may have overcharged the Pentagon $61 million for oil shipments to Iraq....
Derail the Pork Train
December 05, 2003 |
It's that time of year again -- time for lawmakers to mash up all of their unfinished spending bills and stuff them and a few secret...
Giving Thanks?
November 26, 2003 |
As Thanksgiving approaches, we find ourselves asking that important question. What do we have to be thankful for? Well, let's see, our...
Kill the Energy Bill
November 21, 2003 |
It's a rare situation when we are compelled to dedicate two consecutive issues of the wastebasket to the same issue. But, the Energy Bill...
Powered by Pork
November 14, 2003 |
For the past several weeks, Republican energy conference leaders have been keeping the massive energy bill concealed from the public's...
Rein in the Money Grubbers
November 07, 2003 |
Normally, we would be in the Hallelujah chorus, singing the praises of an Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman's recent refusal to...
On Fire
October 31, 2003 |
If you have been living under a rock, you might not know that California is on fire. Horrific images of this year's Golden state inferno...
One Expensive Face Lift
October 23, 2003 |
Bringing new meaning to the old adage, "it takes money to make money," the federal government is spending $33 million on an advertising...
Freeloaders, Inc.
October 16, 2003 |
With the middle class paying an increasingly larger part of the federal tax bill, aren't you wondering who's skipping out on their share...
Abominable Agency Audits
October 09, 2003 |
Tyco's and Enron's shareholders learned a simple investing rule the hard way. Before buying a single share, a smart investor should...
Do the Right Thing in Iraq
October 02, 2003 |
Every day it becomes more apparent that the administration has grossly underestimated the long-term cost of rebuilding and democratizing...
Contractor Nation
September 25, 2003 |
Fueled by the largest defense buildup in decades, last year federal contractors raked in $245 billion from the federal government. A 12%...
Subsidy Storm on the Horizon
September 18, 2003 |
In the next week, Congress is likely to introduce a new disaster relief bill to help repair the wrath of Hurricane Isabel. We all...
Superfund Running on Empty
September 11, 2003 |
The federal trust fund used to pay for toxic waste site cleanups will be flat broke at the end of this month and the costs for cleaning...
Government Workforce Explodes
September 04, 2003 |
Despite the “small government” rhetoric of the current administration, the budget deficit continues to grow and the size of government is...
Watch Your Wallets! Congress is Back
August 28, 2003 |
Next week, lawmakers will return to hot, humid Washington, DC after a month-long recess and are guaranteed to start offering new...
Recall the Rhetoric
August 21, 2003 |
Arnold Schwarzenegger's physique isn't the only feature of the California recall race that's gotten flabby. The Terminator and other...
Lowballing Land Values
August 14, 2003 |
Real estate prices boomed in the 1990s and continue to grow in many areas of the country despite the recession. Even though millions of...
NRO Has Got to Go
August 06, 2003 |
Over the last forty years, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has received more than $200 billion to design, build, launch, and...
Dam the Taxpayer
July 30, 2003 |
America has built few large dams since the 1970s for a good reason - they are as dead as disco. Even though Gloria Gaynor got a second...
Methane Madness
July 24, 2003 |
In yet another glaring example of Congress rewarding big industries at massive public expense, we're about to renew a subsidy for...
Deficit Disorder
July 16, 2003 |
Every single American would have to fork over more than $1,560 to balance this year's budget. Paying it back $1 million per day would...
Congress’ Own “Big Dig”
July 09, 2003 |
Congress has found a new, more convenient way of wasting taxpayers' money. It's throwing the money down, tens-of-millions of dollars at a...
The Rich Keep Getting Richer
July 02, 2003 |
A number of IRS reports released last week confirm that during the 1990s the wealthiest Americans got even wealthier. As the fortunes of...
A Boon to Boeing
June 25, 2003 |
Even prior to 9/11, the commercial aircraft line of Boeing, America's second-largest defense contractor, was sputtering. Politicians,...
Bloated Government Gets Diet Plan
June 18, 2003 |
Most Americans know that massive government agencies waste unconscionable amounts of taxpayer money. Bureaucratic bungling, wasteful...
NIH Pharms Out Profits
June 11, 2003 |
Taxpayers invest tens of billions of dollars in drug research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) each year. It's generally a...
Creamed By the Corn Belt
June 04, 2003 |
No longer content with the massive subsidies currently in place for fuel ethanol, Midwestern politicians and presidential candidates who...
Selling “Security” Snake Oil
May 31, 2003 |
From Alaska to Florida, corporations and other special interests are taking advantage of our concerns over terrorism to help solidify...
Derailing Amtrak
May 21, 2003 |
Since its inception about three decades ago, Amtrak, our national passenger rail service has been on its financial deathbed, surviving...
Anti-Drug Dollars Up in Smoke
May 14, 2003 |
The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has spent more than $1 billion on an anti-drug ad campaign whose only...
Halliburton’s Road to Riches
May 07, 2003 |
Earlier this week, the Bush administration was forced to disclose that it has awarded a Halliburton subsidiary a no-bid contract for the...
Go George Go
April 30, 2003 |
Like the Phoenix, deficit hawks on Capitol Hill have risen from the ashes as part of a revised crusade to fight the largest...
Fiscal Fiasco at TSA
April 23, 2003 |
Amidst concerns that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has pulled budgets out of thin air and wasted millions of dollars,...
Jet Fighter Should Be Grounded
April 17, 2003 |
Despite efforts by Congress to control the cost of a antiquated jet fighter program that has already suffered from more than $19 billion...
Christmas in April for the Energy Industry
April 10, 2003 |
Earlier today, Congress handed the energy industry a whole pile of presents wrapped in the 768-page energy bill. While the rest of us are...
That Sinking Feeling
April 04, 2003 |
Not even a war could keep the Senate from an opportunity to add a few pork projects to a must-pass bill. A wasteful ship subsidy program...
Basic Math for the DOD
March 28, 2003 |
All those teachers who always reminded you to check your work obviously should have spent a little more time with the folks at the...
The Financial Cost of War
March 21, 2003 |
For the last several months, the President has dismissed discussion about the cost of war in Iraq and how to pay for it. Well, the war...
Missing the Forest for the Trees
March 13, 2003 |
"Unproven, untested, and may not be effective" isn't one of the phrases you often see on the side of a box. If federal programs came in...
Using Armed Forces as a Pawn for Pork
March 05, 2003 |
In a crass demonstration of either their inability or unwillingness to make the necessary trade-offs to help reduce the federal deficit...
Close the SUV Tax-Break Loophole
February 28, 2003 |
A tax break created to help small family farmers and hauling companies afford the cost of work vehicles is being exploited like a...
Eight Ways to Trim the Fat
February 21, 2003 |
After slapping Congress on the wrist for larding up this year's budget with billions of dollars in earmarks, last night President Bush...
Digging into the Taxpayers’ Wallet
February 14, 2003 |
Boston's Big Dig has become a poster child for irresponsible management of a federally funded public works project. This behemoth of a...
Pork Hamstrings NASA’s Mission
February 07, 2003 |
There's no question that we all should mourn the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. However, the next step for Congress should be...
Big Government, Big Time!
January 31, 2003 |
President Bush's annual budget request that will be released on Monday is likely to be so fiscally irresponsible that folks in Washington...
Uncle Sam Slams Big Brother
January 24, 2003 |
Although the Senate passed a spending bill yesterday that was $15 billion over budget, they deserve a round of applause for taking the...
Close This Corporate Tax Scam
January 17, 2003 |
Global corporations are using a sly accounting trick called transfer pricing in "accountant speak" to bilk the federal government out of...
Trillion with a “T”
January 10, 2003 |
In the midst of all the hubbub over the President's $674 billion economic stimulus plan, a shocking new study about another major budget...
Stimulating the Budget Deficit
January 03, 2003 |
After a season of excess, all the Americans who have resolved to cut back on personal spending might be brought out of their own personal...
Rewarding Political Hacks
December 06, 2002 |
The Bush administration's decision to restore a policy of rewarding top salary political appointees with cash bonuses of up to $25,000 is...
Six Feet Under and Still Getting Social Security
November 26, 2002 |
Despite warnings from watchdog agencies, the federal government continues to dole out millions in Social Security checks to dead people....
Westlands or Wastelands?
November 22, 2002 |
The Bush administration is about to fork over more than $100 million to a group of mega-wealthy landowners in California so they will...
Jettison a Jet Fighter
November 15, 2002 |
The grand prize in this year's congressional budget free-for-all goes to Secretary Rumsfeld and all the four stars at the Pentagon. While...
The Cost of Elections
November 08, 2002 |
President Bush took a risky gamble on this week's Congressional elections by turning them into a referendum on his presidency. To his...
Federal Programs That Go “Boo!”
November 01, 2002 |
Unlike the zombies, ghosts, and goblins that frightened Americans all across the country last night, the emergence of the Congressional...
Corporations Should Pay Their Fair Share
October 24, 2002 |
In the aftermath of 9/11 it has been well documented that a severe lack of security at the nation's seaports makes them highly vulnerable...
The Long Road to Military Reform
October 17, 2002 |
Several years after the Bush administration first promised to cut the fat and waste out of the military, an old adage comes to mind:...
A Disaster of a Plan
October 10, 2002 |
More than a year after Sept. 11, concerns remain about the insurance industry's ability to cover future acts of terrorism. Industry...
The Hunt for Election-Year Pork Intensifies
October 03, 2002 |
In the never-ending quest for pork, a merry band of lawmakers, led by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is attempting to get the House of...
Politics and the Budget Don’t Mix
September 26, 2002 |
As the horizon fades on yet another budget year for the US government, Congress is scrambling to pass continuing resolutions that will...
Weighing the Costs of Invasion
September 19, 2002 |
Congress is poised to authorize a blank check for U.S. military action against Iraq without any financial commitment from our allies, a...
Congress Should Act on Fisheries Law
September 11, 2002 |
A combustible mixture of election-year posturing and legislative gridlock has all but guaranteed that Congress will not pass fisheries...
Dam Removal is the Only Solution
September 05, 2002 |
Two recent reports have provided strong evidence that the federal government has dropped the ball on salmon recovery in the Columbia...
Caviar Crowd
August 29, 2002 |
Sometimes government bureaucrats do things that just make you ask "What were they thinking?"
The Earth Summit going on this week in...
Giving Away the Store
August 22, 2002 |
The Bush Administration has agreed to a land swap in Utah that would amount to a giveaway of more than $100 million dollars.
The San...
A Call for Fiscal Security
August 15, 2002 |
President Bush deserves a round of applause for exercising fiscal restraint this week. Just yesterday he publicly rebuffed Rep. John...
Hail to the Chief Executive Officer
August 08, 2002 |
During the 2000 campaign, Vice President Richard Cheney promised to run the nation like a business, aiming for efficiency in order to...
Ag Subsidies Undercut Foreign Aid
July 31, 2002 |
The $190 billion farm bill passed into law this year is not only putting small family farmers out of business in the US, the massive...
End Federal Contracts to Corporate Traitors
July 25, 2002 |
Mega-rich American businesses that move their corporate headquarters to tropical island tax havens, or are in the process of doing so,...
Cooking the Books at Taxpayer Expense
July 16, 2002 |
The recent corporate accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Xerox have brought on a national outrage. These big company executives...
The Wildfire Blame Game
July 11, 2002 |
In the midst of what promises to be one of the worst forest fire seasons on record, the Forest Service had an opportunity this week to...
End Corporate Tax Havens
July 02, 2002 |
Each year, an increasing number of profitable American businesses decide to transfer their corporate headquarters to tax-haven island...
All Aboard the Reform Train
June 26, 2002 |
Amtrak's timing couldn't have been finer when they announced last week that if the federal government couldn't come up with a $200...
Missile Impossible
June 20, 2002 |
A missile shield, or what some call national missile defense, is supposed to provide a multi-layered defense of the entire United States...
Celebrating a Century of Subsidies
June 12, 2002 |
The Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next week under a cloud of controversy. The...
Big Airlines Benefit from Bailout Bill
June 06, 2002 |
Airline lobbyists' dreams came true last fall when Congress hastily passed the $15 billion airline bailout bill authorizing $5 billion in...
The Bush Budget Two-Step
May 30, 2002 |
As a Presidential candidate, then-Governor George W. Bush promised the American people that he would be a responsible steward of taxpayer...
Campaigning on the Taxpayers’ Buck
May 22, 2002 |
Despite his campaign promise to change the way Washington does business, President Bush has recently been resorting to the time-tested...
Chapter 11 May Bankrupt Taxpayers
May 16, 2002 |
Under current international trade agreements, foreign companies have the right to sue the U.S. government to recover damages for having...
Is it Possible to Cancel a Weapons System?
May 09, 2002 |
Much to his credit, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently made what looks like a fateful attempt to stick a budgetary stake...
The Energy Bill Fiasco
May 01, 2002 |
With the passage of the Senate Energy Bill last week, our national energy policy has become the poster child for all that is wrong with...
The Farm Bill Fiasco
April 25, 2002 |
Like many other special interests in Washington, the farm lobby has for years done an outstanding job of securing tens of billions of...
Taming the IRS Pit Bulls
April 16, 2002 |
The pit bulls at the IRS just may be a wealthy tax scofflaw's best friend. Audits are at an all time low, allowing taxpayers to cheat the...
Choice Cuts for the Budget
April 11, 2002 |
With the return of budget deficits and the annual political war over spending bills about to begin, yesterday a coalition of taxpayer,...
An Idea That Won’t Fly
April 05, 2002 |
Despite the fact that the Pentagon has been awarded the largest budget in our nation's history - close to $400 billion - they remain...
Road Woes at the Forest Service
March 29, 2002 |
Our national forests are crisscrossed by more than twice as many roads than form the National Highway System. However, these...
A Costly Love Connection
March 21, 2002 |
Sometimes when the federal government tries to fix a problem, they actually wind up making it worse. Evidence of this is in President...
Make Polluters Pay
March 15, 2002 |
If you make a mess, it's your responsibility to clean it up. This principle has worked its way from the kindergarten classroom into the...
A Synful Tax Giveaway
March 08, 2002 |
A twenty year-old tax credit that was originally intended to decrease US reliance on foreign oil has proven ineffective, yet currently...
Keep the Corps Cuts
February 28, 2002 |
Now that the brouhaha surrounding spending reductions in the President's FY03 budget has largely ended, it's time to start highlighting...
Paying for Disinformation
February 22, 2002 |
After President Bush proposed the largest increase in defense spending in two decades, it's hardly surprising that the Pentagon is...
End the Clean Coal Program
February 15, 2002 |
T
his week the Senate is expected to start debating legislation that includes billions in tax breaks and subsidies for almost every...
A Bloated Budget
February 08, 2002 |
In his budget released this week, the President proposes massive new spending for defense and homeland security, financed by budget cuts...
It Is Time for Campaign Finance Reform
February 01, 2002 |
Anyone serious about cutting wasteful spending and subsidies should support reforming our campaign finance laws. This is a leading way to...
Belt Tightening in the New Deficit Era
January 25, 2002 |
The era of budget surpluses is over. In record time, the Bush Administration, with a helping hand from Congress, has blown the surplus to...
Enron: One of the Nation’s Worst Tax Scofflaws
January 18, 2002 |
For the first time in quite awhile, a news story has nudged terrorism from the front pages of the nation's newspapers. Enron - one of the...
Budget Blame Game
January 10, 2002 |
Less than four months ago as the war on terrorism escalated, President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle couldn't find enough...
New Year’s Resolution: Restraint
January 04, 2002 |
The New Year has begun and the federal budget is maxed out after a binge of end-of-year spending and reduced revenues. At best, the...
Striking Gold
December 17, 2001 |
New legislation making its way through the halls of Congress would turn a century-old abandoned mine into the new home for an underground...
Farm Bill Fallacies
December 07, 2001 |
In defending the $171 billion farm bill that the Senate is about to consider, proponents will say about anything. They conjure up visions...
Nuclear Power Play
November 26, 2001 |
Washington lawmakers and lobbyists for the nuclear power industry have teamed up behind closed doors to all but guarantee that a...
New Water Legislation Raids Taxpayers’ Pockets
November 21, 2001 |
A new bill making its way through Congress would subsidize billions of new mega-water projects at the expense of federal...
Now You See it Now You Don’t
November 15, 2001 |
With the economy faltering before the September 11 attacks and now approaching recession, taxpayers must be wondering what happened to...
A Fishy Deal
November 13, 2001 |
The federal government dished out more than $500 million in credits to a federal agency for salmon recovery that was never done.
The...
New Jet Fighter Will Take Taxpayers for A Ride
November 06, 2001 |
The Department of Defense (DOD) recently awarded the biggest defense contract in U.S. history to Lockheed Martin to build the Joint...
Insuring the Insurers
October 29, 2001 |
Industries pleading the government for financial help in the wake of September 11th have become too commonplace in Washington. Each...
Economic Stimulus or Big Business Handout?
October 18, 2001 |
As Congress grapples with how best to stimulate the economy, the House is preparing to debate a controversial provision that would cost...
Jumpstarting the Economy
October 11, 2001 |
The bipartisan spirit that gripped Capitol Hill in the wake of the September 11th attacks is starting to fray as the debate over how...
Farm Bill Fails Farmers, Taxpayers
October 05, 2001 |
Congress today passed a massive new farm bill. Unfortunately, lawmakers seem intent on repeating the mistakes of the past and also making...
Rethinking Missile Defense
September 28, 2001 |
It goes without saying that the course of U.S. military policy will be profoundly impacted by the September 11th terrorist attacks on the...
Open Letter to America’s Leaders
September 21, 2001 |
The following letter was sent to our nation's lawmakers from Jill Lancelot, the Co-Founder and Legislative Director of Taxpayers for...
Grave Concerns Over Social Security
September 05, 2001 |
Franklin Roosevelt should be rolling over in his grave. The program that the former president helped start to provide benefits to those...
Fiscal Recklessness is Back in Style
August 31, 2001 |
Many things from the 1980s are out of style -- Flock of Seagulls, big hair and Benneton shirts to name a few. We were hoping the fiscal...
Feds Pay Tax Scofflaws
August 24, 2001 |
MORE INFORMATION
GAO REPORT: Millions of Dollars Could Be Collected If IRS Levied More Federal...
Juggling for Dollars
August 15, 2001 |
Even as the debate on Defense spending rages on Capitol Hill, a recent report has raised new questions about how the Department of...
Flood Insurance Reform Could Save Billions
August 01, 2001 |
Some lawmakers are proposing to reduce the amount of money in federal flood insurance claims the government pays out to people who refuse...
NASA: Lost in Space?
July 16, 2001 |
The idea of a sustained human presence in space has long captured the American imagination. Yet, even as construction of the...
Jets for Generals
July 09, 2001 |
Most experts agree that U.S. military readiness is in crisis. Reports of a lack of spare parts and ammunition have inundated the media,...
When Pigs Fly
July 02, 2001 |
Recent reductions in projected federal budget surplus estimates for this year have prompted the White House to call on Congress to...
WTO: Export Subsidy Must Go
June 27, 2001 |
A tax credit for American businesses that export their goods that costs taxpayers $4 billion per year in lost revenue could soon be...
Bush Tax Cut and Defense Request Spend Medicare Surplus
June 26, 2001 |
Late Friday afternoon, the Bush administration announced that it will seek a fiscal 2002 defense budget authority increase of $18.4...
Back from the Grave: Pork!
June 24, 2001 |
Congress' annual spending process is like a zombie movie, no matter how many times some wasteful government projects and programs are...
Surplus Sellout
June 21, 2001 |
Less than a month after President Bush signed his trillion-dollar tax cut into law, taxpayers are eagerly anticipating rebate checks from...
Superlaser or Super Bust?
June 12, 2001 |
Few would deny the awesome power of nuclear weapons or the need to maintain the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal....
FAA Could Ground Taxpayers
June 05, 2001 |
From lost baggage to sitting on the runway for hours to cancellations, flying has become its own adventure sport. The Federal Aviation...
Gimmicks Cripple Tax Cut
June 01, 2001 |
After a week off, Members of Congress are starting to make their way back to Washington to start wrangling over the annual spending...
What’s Next - West ‘Byrd’ginia?
May 25, 2001 |
Congressional membership has its privileges. Members of Congress who bring home bacon have had many of these boondoggle projects named...
Surfing Away Your Tax Dollars
May 18, 2001 |
While Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees are spending about half of their time on the Internet looking at sex, gambling, and stock...
Land Deal Costs Taxpayers Millions
April 27, 2001 |
Flawed appraisals of the Potomac Yard Land Exchange in Virginia cost the federal government almost $29 million, according to a recent...
The High Cost of the F-22
April 13, 2001 |
GAO Report: F-22 Development and Testing Delays Indicate Need for Limit on Low-Rate Production
An aircraft that has been touted as...
Overpayments Sabotage Housing Assistance
April 06, 2001 |
Read the Inspector General's Report (Audit of HUD FY2000 Financial Statements)
Billions of dollars in overpayments to landlords and...
Don’t Forget the Debt
April 01, 2001 |
As tax-cut fever grips Washington, details like the fact that Uncle Sam is still deeply in the red are being downplayed.
While...
“BEEF"ing Up on the Taxpayers’ Dime
March 23, 2001 |
Taxpayers paid for about $500,000 in unnecessary expenses at the Department of Energy's (DoE) Big Explosives Experimental Facility...
Pork Barrel Spending Grows
March 16, 2001 |
Pork-barrel spending hit a record $18.5 billion last year, according to the latest annual report by the watchdog organization Citizens...
Two Floods and You’re Out
March 09, 2001 |
In what amounts to a "two floods and you're out" policy, the Bush Administration is proposing to pull flood insurance policies from...
Bush May Cut Some Corporate Welfare
February 16, 2001 |
The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), a federally funded research slush fund for Fortune 500 companies, may get the ax in the Bush...
Osprey Program Off Course
February 07, 2001 |
Over the last 18 years, the V-22 Osprey has survived skyrocketing costs, three crashes and ongoing questions about the aircraft's...
Spending Could Eliminate Surplus
February 01, 2001 |
The federal government's budget surplus will increase to $5.6 trillion over the next decade, according to estimates released yesterday by...
Can NASA’s Asteroid Landing Prevent Catastrophe
January 19, 2001 |
While many of us celebrate Valentine's Day by dining at our favorite restaurant with that one special person, NASA will be attempting to...
Report: Federal Mismanagement Led to High Cost of 2000’s Wildfires
January 12, 2001 |
The federal government spent a record $1.6 billion in 2000 fighting the worst wildfires our nation has seen in decades, according to a...
Farm Subsidies Top $28 Billion
January 09, 2001 |
Congress quietly approved another infusion of farm subsidies late last year, adding to the billions in emergency funds already...
Many U.S. Corporations Avoid Paying Taxes
December 12, 2000 |
Many of the biggest corporations in the U.S. pay few or no taxes on their profits, according to a recent study.
The study by the...
Congress Passes Tax Break for Exporters
November 16, 2000 |
The House this week approved a new version of a billion dollar trade subsidy for American companies.
The new legislation will revamp a...
Congressional Recycling Failure Costs Millions
October 30, 2000 |
Congress has wasted $1.5 million in the last five years by not recycling the thousands of tons of paper that it produces, according to a...
Congressional Spending Binge
October 12, 2000 |
Worried that George W. Bush and Al Gore will spend the projected budget surplus on new billion dollar spending programs or tax cuts?...
Improper Payments Skyrocket
September 28, 2000 |
The federal government has little idea just how many of our hard-earned tax dollars it pays for bills we don't owe. In fact, taxpayers lost...
GAO Snubs Laser Project
September 14, 2000 |
The builders of the world's most powerful laser misled Congress by lowballing the project's cost to win initial funding, according to a...
Feds Contract Criminal Companies
August 28, 2000 |
Would you keep giving your business to companies that break the law? The federal government does.
Even though they have been prosecuted...
Taxpayers Sour on Sugar Subsidies
August 02, 2000 |
Taxpayers will have to fork out more than $1 billion to prop up a wasteful and failing U.S. sugar program, according to statements last...
GAO Exposes Shady Land Deals
July 26, 2000 |
A land exchange program set up to obtain pristine wilderness areas and other valuable lands that the government wants is shortchanging...
Rigged Missle Defense Test Falls Flat
July 17, 2000 |
The anti-missile flop over the Pacific Ocean earlier this month underscores the need for full operational testing before this unproven...
Jesse Thrashes Outer Banks, Edwards AWOL
June 28, 2000 |
Any taxpayer who has ever vacationed at Cape Hatteras on North Carolina's famed Outer Banks has driven over the bridge at Oregon Inlet --...
Bill Would Have Taxpayers Pay for Fur Ads
June 21, 2000 |
With the second largest number of mink farms in the country, Wisconsin would likely benefit from a provision in the Agriculture spending...
Commission Would Take Aim at Corporate Welfare
June 14, 2000 |
Billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks for corporations might be spotlighted and targeted for elimination if lawmakers act on...
Superlaser Price Tag Skyrockets
June 05, 2000 |
The Department of Energy failed to meet its deadline earlier this week to tell Congress how much money taxpayers will have to spend on a...
Corps Mississippi Study Flawed
May 24, 2000 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study to justify the expansion of locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi is too flawed and incomplete...
Why Can’t the Pentagon Pass An Audit?
May 17, 2000 |
The Pentagon's accounting records are so convoluted that billions of dollars cannot be accounted for, charges a new government...
Airport Ripoff Costs Taxpayers Millions
May 09, 2000 |
While airports grow more congested and flight delays more common, dozens of airports have lost millions to local interests who are...
Agribusiness Reaps Benefits of Federal Farm Law
May 02, 2000 |
The federal government's biggest agricultural subsidy checks are going to the nation's biggest farmers, according to a new...
Water Project Shortchanges Taxpayers
April 25, 2000 |
What U.S. News and World Report has called "the last surviving dinosaur from the age of behemoth water schemes," the Animas La Plata...
Rethinking National Missile Defense
April 18, 2000 |
As President Clinton ponders deployment of a proposed National Missile Defense (NMD) system, skyrocketing costs and significant technical...
Big Dig Billions Over Budget
April 11, 2000 |
Boston's Big Dig project -- the most expensive road project in American history -- is officially bankrupt.
A federal audit has...
Ethanol: America’s Political Cash Cow
March 29, 2000 |
The Clinton Administration's recent proposal to replace the gas additive MTBE with ethanol could be a new billion-dollar cash cow for one...
Emergency Spending Eats at Budget Surplus
March 22, 2000 |
The House Appropriations Committee has approved a $9 billion Emergency Supplemental spending bill that would clear the way for more...
Military Contractor Faked Tests; Millions Wasted
March 14, 2000 |
A leading military contractor faked tests for a key component in the proposed $27 billion National Missile Defense (NMD) system,...
Corps of Engineers in Troubled Waters
March 07, 2000 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is wasting billions of dollars on environmentally harmful projects, charges a new report by Taxpayers...
Corps of Engineers Out of Control
February 24, 2000 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have misrepresented economic benefits for its construction projects as part of the agency's secret...
Report Highlights Opportunities to Cut Wasteful Spending
February 08, 2000 |
A recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report highlights 61 federal programs that could be eliminated and scaled back to save billions...
The Great Alaska Giveaway
February 01, 2000 |
In the next few weeks, the Senate may consider legislation that would give away up to 500,000 acres of federal land rich in timber and...
Report: Save Money, Planet
January 25, 2000 |
A new report released January 20th by a coalition of environmental and budget watchdog groups details billions in wasteful and...
Crop Insurance Hurts Taxpayers
January 19, 2000 |
When Congress reconvenes later this month, one of its major legislative priorities will be to reform the federal crop insurance...
Rethinking Stealth Technology
January 11, 2000 |
Without any apparent military success with stealth technology, the Pentagon plans to spend $280 billion to manufacture two new stealth...
Millennial Budget Busting
January 04, 2000 |
Millennial Budget Busting
Despite bipartisan promises to protect the Social Security surplus, the fiscal 2000 budget will have to...
Budget Negotiations May Signal End to Royalty Rip-Off
November 24, 1999 |
It seems that the end-of-session budget wrangling and Congress' eagerness to get out of Washington earned taxpayers at least one victory...
The “Ghoulish” Federal Budget
November 03, 1999 |
Emergency Spending Bill Sets Stage for Budget "Train Wreck"
The chaotic, undisciplined Congress that produced the bloated,...
Mounting Costs for Space Station
October 13, 1999 |
The price of keeping Space Station in orbit is three times NASA's estimates, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the...
Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party, and the National Debt
September 28, 1999 |
The Reform Party will do a fiscal flip-flop if it embraces and nominates Pat Buchanan.
At stake is whether the Reform Party will...
The Budget Surplus Vanishes
September 15, 1999 |
After decades of federal deficits and an increasing national debt, all the talk here in Washington of enormous budget surpluses seems too...
Military Spending: Everything and the Kitchen Sink
September 03, 1999 |
Regular readers of the Waste Basket are given many examples of wasteful spending within the U.S. Department of Defense. Taxpayers for...
Conference Committee Needs to Cut F-22
August 03, 1999 |
A House committee recently voted to cut $1.8 billion that had been requested for a new fighter that critics say is over budget, under...
The Magical Budget Surplus
July 29, 1999 |
After decades of federal deficits and an increasing national debt, all the talk here in Washington of enormous budget surpluses seems too...
Millions for Special Interests in Senate Interior Bill
July 16, 1999 |
Several senators are planning to serve up a smorgasbord of giveaways to the oil, mining, timber and coal industries.
For example, Sen....
Stop the Big Business Bailout
July 08, 1999 |
Many of today's most costly welfare recipients are Fortune 500 companies.
Taxpayers Pay Hospitals Millions to Not Train Doctors
June 30, 1999 |
Just as the government has paid farmers not to grow crops, it now pays hospitals not to train doctors.
Two years ago, Congress passed a...
Salmon Extinction Could Cost Billions
June 29, 1999 |
The American taxpayer may be liable for up to tens of billions of dollars because the federal government has failed to stop salmon...
Transportation Bill Paved With Waste
June 18, 1999 |
Next week, the Senate will consider a bill that would waste taxpayer dollars on costly and unneeded road projects.
Passage of the...
THAAD Goes Thud
June 08, 1999 |
This week the Army is scheduled to hold another test for the Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) program.
The program is designed...
Taking Aim With Your Tax Dollars
June 02, 1999 |
Lost deep in the pages of this year’s massive agricultural spending bill is $10 million to kill coyotes and other livestock predators in...
Emergency Spending Bill Sets Stage for Budget “Train Wreck”
May 24, 1999 |
The chaotic, undisciplined Congress that produced the bloated, pork-filled emergency spending bill seems on track for a budget train...
Forest Funds Elude Oversight
May 17, 1999 |
The Forest Service continues to spend $400 million of its slush fund money with no one to answer to. Current law allows the Forest...
Report details road waste
May 10, 1999 |
With little regard for taxpayers, local communities and the environment, transportation officials are about to waste $17 billion in...
Save Money, Save Salmon
April 12, 1999 |
Over 300 national and grassroots organizations from across America today endorsed the retirement of the four federal dams on the Lower...
Congress Defies Navy; Forces Upgrade of Unneeded Subs
March 02, 1999 |
Back in January, Admiral J.L. Johnson, the Chief of Naval Operations, told Congress he could ensure national security with four fewer...
DOE Secretary Richardson Saves Taxpayers Billions
January 11, 1999 |
Making the best of a bad set of options, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson courageously saved American taxpayers at least $5 billion by...
Omnibus or Ominous? Congress Fails Taxpayers
October 18, 1998 |
From bloated defense budgets to the largest pork-barrel transportation bill in our nation's history, this has been a very bad year for the...
Congress Should Say Nyet to Russian Space Bailout
October 12, 1998 |
Taxpayers for Common Sense has urged members of Congress to oppose an additional $660...
Parks Bill Can Wait!
October 04, 1998 |
Taxpayers for Common has urged Congress to oppose H.R. 4570, the Omnibus Parks Bill of 1998, when it is considered this week. The bill is...
The Saturday Surplus Massacre!
September 27, 1998 |
Taxpayers for Common Sense urged the Congress to defeat an $80 billion tax cut bill passed this weekend. Proponents said it would be paid...
Bill Devoid of Common Sense!
September 20, 1998 |
The Senate last week delayed consideration of the Interior Appropriations bill for FY '99. The Senate has corrupted the legislative...
The Check Is In The Mail
September 16, 1998 |
As the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) prepares for upcoming price increases on most classes of mail, the outgoing Postmaster General has...
Waste, From Top To Bottom
August 25, 1998 |
Regular readers of the Waste Basket are given many examples of wasteful spending within the U.S. Department of Defense. Taxpayers for...
Stop the IMF Sinkhole
July 19, 1998 |
In the days ahead, Congress stands ready to provide at least $3.4 billion in U.S. funding for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as...
Bill Could Trade Natural Disaster for Fiscal One
July 12, 1998 |
“Fly Before You Buy” Amendment Crashes
July 05, 1998 |
The Pentagon plans to spend $62 billion on 339 F-22 fighters that may not serve their intended purpose.
As of June 16, the F-22 test...
Forest Service Loses $88 Million
June 21, 1998 |
Independent government studies have shown that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) commercial timber program loses hundreds of millions of...
Senator Seeks $30 Million For Unneeded Bombing Range
June 07, 1998 |
Would you pay $31.5 million to replace a majestic 12,000 acres of public land with a completely unnecessary bombing range? Well, at least...
Shopping Without Price Tags
May 25, 1998 |
The Department of Defense is trying to take the price tags off the weapons it buys. If the move is successful, neither Congress nor the...
IRA Loophole Explodes at Wrong Time
May 17, 1998 |
Penny wise and pound foolish. To cover the costs of certain provisions of the recently passed IRS reform bill, the Senate included an...
Drilling Taxpayers for Money
May 10, 1998 |
Now that the cigars have burned out and the lobbyists have left the smoke-filled room, it is clear that taxpayers have been ripped off....
Health Industry Bill Immune from Fraud Protections
May 03, 1998 |
Abraham Lincoln would turn over in his grave if he could witness the new attacks on a fraud prevention law he helped enact during the...
Oh give me a home, where they kill buffalo that roam
April 20, 1998 |
In a story that is truly stranger than fiction, taxpayers are paying for the slaughter of an enduring image of Western freedom -- the...
ISTEA Brewing Trouble
April 05, 1998 |
As the House overwhelmingly passed its version of the budget-busting new highway bill last week 317–85, divisions brewed between...
Federal Distress
March 30, 1998 |
When it comes to shipping supplies, the Department of Defense is no Federal Express. DOD loses track of sixty percent of the $5 billion in...
Clinton-Gore Administration Flunks Green Scissors Test
March 16, 1998 |
The Clinton-Gore Administration received a disappointing "D" in a report card issued last week by the Green Scissors Campaign, a...
New Support to Close Excess Bases
March 09, 1998 |
With the support of a brand-new coalition of budget and military watchdog organizations, the Pentagon is seeking Congressional approval...
Save Money & Salmon: Remove Four Dams
February 24, 1998 |
Simply removing four unneeded dams on Washington State’s Lower Snake River could save hundreds of millions of dollars at two...
$26 Million Road Through Wildlife Refuge
February 09, 1998 |
In Alaska, with sparse populations and severe weather to overcome, new roads are often of dubious value. That hasn’t stopped Rep. Don...
D.C. Convention Center Woes
February 02, 1998 |
Laughing at Washington D.C.’s problems has become a national pass time. When it comes to the city’s proposed new convention center,...
Green Scissors: Ready to Cut in ‘98
January 26, 1998 |
Targeting wasteful government spending that harms the environment, the Green Scissors Campaign generated nationwide media coverage and...
NATO Expansion: Hidden Costs
January 21, 1998 |
NATO is throwing a party and inviting new nations as guests – even though nobody has figured out how much it will cost or who will pay.
Budget Surplus? Fuggeddabowditt!
January 12, 1998 |
While Congressional leaders compete to spend a budget surplus that does not exist, the hit movie "Donnie Brasco" has already told all...
Land Giveaway of “Peace Dividend”
December 08, 1997 |
Even though giving away a chunk of federal land (part of it a National Wildlife Refuge) valued at over $65 million could lead taxpayers...
Cut Fossil Fuel Subsides, Reduce Emissions
November 24, 1997 |
As the world’s leaders prepare for international climate change negotiations in Kyoto, Japan in December, the U.S. is quietly encouraging...
“Mr. Go” Must Go
November 10, 1997 |
Down in Louisiana, federal taxpayers pay $13 million a year to maintain a waterway that is only used by three barges per day. Even worse,...
Corporate Ranchers Grazing on Taxpayer Dollars
November 03, 1997 |
A huge subsidy for ranchers using federal lands could get worse as special-interest legislation continues to chew up millions of dollars....
River of Subsidy Washes Tax Dollars Down the Mississippi
October 27, 1997 |
Every day Uncle Sam pays people to violate their own common sense on and near the Mississippi River, according to a first-of-its- kind...
Shuster’s Slush Fund
October 20, 1997 |
Constituents of both Rep. Bud Shuster (R-PA) and a few other powerful members of Congress benefit from a unique and growing U.S. Army...
Business Association Suggests Tax Increase
October 13, 1997 |
A business association representing businesses from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia has suggested raising area taxes to finance $30 billion...
Veto Bait List
October 06, 1997 |
Now that President Clinton has demonstrated his willingness to use the line item veto to cut spending, TCS has prepared a helpful list of...
Headwaters Deal a Sham
September 29, 1997 |
Not so fast. Even though politicians have been giving themselves self-congratulatory pats on the back for agreeing to purchase the...
Santa Shuster Stuffing Stockings Full of Pork
September 22, 1997 |
Even though Santa Shuster hasn’t yet finished doling out all of his boondoggle highway projects, the odor of pork is overwhelming....
Sacramento Levees Put Taxpayers at Risk
September 15, 1997 |
Dumb: Putting taxpayers at financial risk by encouraging new development in a deep floodplain. Dumber: The federal government reimbursing...
No Federal Bailout for Boston’s Big Dig
September 08, 1997 |
Beware. The state of Massachusetts may come looking for the federal government to bail it out of its financial mess. Recent cost...
The Congress that Couldn’t Cut
September 02, 1997 |
Lots of talk but few cuts: Despite repeated rhetoric about trimming wasteful spending, the 105th Congress has failed to live up to its...
Pentagon Follies
August 04, 1997 |
Despite calls for a leaner and more efficient national defense, Pentagon bureaucrats, military contractors and pork barrel politicians...
National Association of Broadcasters Grabs for More
July 28, 1997 |
Next Retiree After Joe Camel: Tobacco Crop Insurance
July 21, 1997 |
Now that Joe Camel has retired, maybe Uncle Sam can also retire from the tobacco business. Congress can take action this week to...
Taxpayers Get Chainsaw in the Back At Timber Roads Showdown
July 14, 1997 |
Taxpayers got a chainsaw in the back from Republican leaders, the Clinton Administration and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) when the House voted...
Special Interest Tax Breaks Continue
July 07, 1997 |
The age-old tradition of giving special tax breaks to Congressional favorites continues in the recently passed House and Senate tax...
Ivan & Sam: Space Station Blues
June 30, 1997 |
Americans shouldn’t look down on the Russians for their space station’s troubles. Theirs are ending. Ours are just beginning.
Sure,...
37 Worst Highway Proposals Would Waste $13 Billion
June 23, 1997 |
By cutting America’s 37 worst proposed highway projects, Congress could save $13 billion – more than the $12 billion that the highway...
More Missionless Planes
June 18, 1997 |
When the defense experts who craft the Pentagon’s notoriously bloated budget do not want to spend money on more B-2 bombers – you should...
Boston’s Big Dig: Will It Be Back For a Special Earmark?
June 16, 1997 |
Because of mismanagement, corruption, waste and poor financing, Boston’s Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel (Big Dig) project may end up...
Dracula’s Bomber: B-2 is Back for $20 Billion
June 10, 1997 |
When the defense experts who craft the Pentagon’s notoriously bloated budget do not want to spend money on more B-2 bombers – you should...
Basketball Booster Bypass
May 27, 1997 |
The University of North Carolina (UNC) wants state taxpayers to build a new road to make big-spending basketball boosters happy. The...
Low Grades For Administration
May 19, 1997 |
The President can do better -- each of the Green Scissors recommendations are consistent with the President's own goals of deficit...
Green Scissors Michigan Released
May 12, 1997 |
In the first single state effort of the national Green Scissors Campaign, TCS and the Michigan Land Use Institute released the Green...
DOD: “Keep the Change”
May 05, 1997 |
If you get too much change back from a big chain store, you're likely to keep it. Defense contractors are no different.
One...
NASA’s Space Monkey Program Off the Taxpayer’s Back
April 28, 1997 |
VICTORY !!! Taxpayers for Common $ense is going ape, pounding our chest to celebrate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s...
Tax Waste, Not Work
April 21, 1997 |
The payroll tax - which has increased on seven occasions since 1980 and is the greatest tax burden for most American families -- could be...
The Last of a Dying Breed
April 15, 1997 |
The last one always put up a big fight - and so it is with the $43 million Milltown Hill Dam in western Oregon.
The federal program...
Alfalfa for the Little Rascals
April 07, 1997 |
The little rascals are at it again. Utah irrigation interests have proposed building the Diamond Fork Dam and irrigation project that...
The New Robber Barons
April 01, 1997 |
$70 billion giveaway. April Fool's Day joke? Taxpayers can only wish.
In the 19th Century, Uncle Sam gave a treasure of land to...
Money Down the Hole
March 24, 1997 |
Like a dog with a bone, the Department of Energy (DOE) is digging a giant hole to bury money. "We can dig the hole in the ground," said...
Band-Aid or Hand Out?
March 17, 1997 |
Like paying farmers not to grow wheat, the Clinton Administration's recent decision to pay hospitals not to train doctors confounds...
Miller Bill Targets Corporate Welfare in Natural Resources Subsidies
March 11, 1997 |
Representative George Miller (D-CA) reintroduced March 4 his omnibus bill to end cut-rate sales and leasing of publicly-owned natural...
Animas La Plata - Colorado’s Dinosaur Water Project
March 05, 1997 |
U.S. News and World Report called the Animas La Plata (ALP) water project "the last surviving dinosaur from the age of behemoth water...
Space Pork for Alaska
February 24, 1997 |
Up on Alaska's Kodiak Island, a much-ballyhooed commercial rocket launch "Space Port" is becoming "Space Pork."
Alaska Senator Ted...
Cutting Subsidies Helps Economy, Say Clinton’s Economists
February 19, 1997 |
In the annual Economic Report of the President released on February 10, Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers concludes that cutting...
Clinton Budget Scores Low on Green Scissors
February 11, 1997 |
A preliminary look a the Clinton Administration's 1998 budget released Feb. 6 reveals many of the environmentally destructive pork barrel...
Green Scissors Campaign Does It Again!
February 04, 1997 |
Bigger and better than ever, the odd-couple Green Scissors Campaign will release today its new 1997 report that highlights 57 wasteful...
New Coalition Targets Corporate Welfare
January 28, 1997 |
"Stop Corporate Welfare!" is the rallying cry of a new odd couple coalition of taxpayer, environmental, consumer and free market groups...
Battle of the Bridge Heats Up
January 14, 1997 |
Good news – at least for now. After three months of review the National Park Service (NPS) has given an overwhelming "thumbs down" to the...
New Report Warns of Subsidies that “Pay the Polluter”
December 11, 1996 |
Heard of the "polluter pays" principle? Well, it turns out that governments around the world are "paying the polluters" instead....
Lott’sa Pork for Mississippi
November 19, 1996 |
Pork knows no party. Just as West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) has his $880 million Corridor H highway project, Senate Majority...
“PAC”-ing in the Subsidies
November 04, 1996 |
Money talks. That’s why corporate welfare giants contribute millions to congressional candidates to protect their special-interest...
Zapping Taxpayers with Electricity Subsidies
October 21, 1996 |
Caution! Dangerously high surges of taxpayer subsidized electricity are headed your way! According to the Wall Street Journal and...
Defense Department Saves Waste, Wastes Money
October 09, 1996 |
Some collect stamps. Others collect baseball cards. But when it comes to the military, the Pentagon collects unneeded supplies — and a...
Bill Soaks Taxpayers for Billions
October 03, 1996 |
Now heading to President Clinton's desk is legislation that would drench taxpayers in $7 billion of federal water projects. Called the...
Proposal Would Wash Taxpayer Dollars Out to Sea
September 25, 1996 |
Florida lawmakers want federal taxpayers to buy front-row seats for a hurricane. The misguided proposal would carve out a special...
House Rejects Welfare for Multinational Corporations
September 17, 1996 |
In
New Report Warns of 22 Wasteful Road Projects
September 10, 1996 |
Leaders of the taxpayer-environmentalist Green Scissors Campaign will call this week for a halt to 22 wasteful and environmentally...
Olympic Gold Medal Giveaway
August 06, 1996 |
Congress is poised to approve a bogus land deal that could line one man’s pockets with gold at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. A Utah...
Taxpayer Trash Dumped into Parks Bill
July 30, 1996 |
More trash for the American taxpayer has been dumped in an unlikely spot -- the giant catch-all parks bill soon to be considered by...
Water Welfare
July 22, 1996 |
The House will vote on whether to approve start-up funding to construct the $481 million pork-barrel Animas-La Plata irrigation project...
For Timber Monopoly, Money Grows on Trees
July 17, 1996 |
In a decades old game of monopoly, played in the heart of the Alaskan wilderness, corporate interests may soon get to make another move –...
Weapons Welfare Uncovered
July 09, 1996 |
Uncle Sam handed out $7.6 billion in subsidies in 1995 to help U.S. defense companies sell their weapons abroad, according to a report...
House Renders “Jurassic Pork” Earmark Extinct
July 02, 1996 |
The dinosaurs may be extinct, but pork-barrel politics are alive and well in the 104th Congress. Tucked away in next year’s NASA budget...
House to Vote on Monkey Business at NASA
June 25, 1996 |
Congress will consider this week a NASA program that makes taxpayers and some legislators go ape. The House will vote on June 25 or 26...
Auburn Dam Porkers Turn Chicken
June 18, 1996 |
The David vs. Goliath showdown over a proposed dam of biblical spending proportions continues on the congressional battlefield. Only now...
Animal Damage Control Program is Cowboy Welfare
June 11, 1996 |
With the House set to consider agriculture appropriations later this week, federal taxpayers should be outraged to learn that the...
DOD Rewards Defense Execs with Merger Bonus
June 04, 1996 |
Incredibly, with next year's defense budget request hovering at about $265 billion, the Pentagon is preparing to reward the top...
Army Corps’ Beach Replenishment Program Throws Away Millions
May 28, 1996 |
As you dream of heading to the beach this Memorial Day, imagine this: on the way, stop at the bank, take out all your money, and then...
Taxpayers Say No to Congressional “Star Wars” Sequel
May 21, 1996 |
Hollywood producers aren’t the only ones working on a sequel to "Star Wars." House Representatives are finalizing their own plan to beef...
Military Spending Cuts Are Against the “Rules”
May 14, 1996 |
The House has ruled out the possibility of cutting defense spending even as politicians vow to balance the budget in seven years. On May...
New Report Exposes Cost of Takings - $125 Million for Exxon Valdez?
May 07, 1996 |
Takings legislation scheduled for Senate floor action in May would likely cost federal taxpayers more than $100 billion in the next seven...
The Defense Budget Time Bomb
April 29, 1996 |
A new T.V. report reveals that Pentagon plans to buy expensive weapons will likely result in higher defense spending in future years and...
Taxpayers Say Oppose Costly Student Loan Riders
April 24, 1996 |
Get Ready for a showdown between federal taxpayers and student loan middlemen as Congress decides whether to accept proposed legislative...
Get the Monkey Off the Taxpayer’s Back!
April 16, 1996 |
As millions of Americans rushed to file their taxes on April 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to waste...
For the Record (Fox TV Interview About Pentagon Follies)
April 09, 1996 |
The following exchange occurred on "Fox Morning News" Tuesday, April 2, between Ralph De Gennaro of Taxpayers for Common $ense and Daniel...
April Fools!
April 01, 1996 |
Like an expensive "April fools" joke on American taxpayers, Pentagon bureaucrats and pork-barrel politicians have wasted approximately...
Second Fitness Center at Naval Shipyard
March 26, 1996 |
As if one gym wasn’t enough, Congress has appropriated $10.4 million to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA to construct its...
DoD’s Mickey Mouse Club
March 19, 1996 |
The Pentagon is goofing around again with taxpayer dollars. Using funds from its Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) program, the...
New Green Scissors Report Targets Government Waste that Harms Environment
March 12, 1996 |
The U.S. Government is squandering taxpayer dollars on federal projects that, according to environmentalists, cause environmental havoc....
Tee-ing off the Taxpayer
March 07, 1996 |
Believe it or not, Washington elites and their Defense Department buddies are teeing off for another round of golf at the expense of the...
Frankly, my dear, we don’t need a dam!
February 29, 1996 |
Big government may be gone with the wind, but California Congressmen John Doolittle and Robert Matsui are the Scarlett O’Haras of the...
Will the House repeal the Tea Act of 1897?
February 22, 1996 |
As Congress returns to work, it faces a moment of truth: Will the House of Representatives ever repeal the Tea Act of 1897? Don’t laugh....
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