What's Happening in Prioritize Investments

Press Release: Report Shows Motorcoaches Should be Part of Transportation Mix

A new study by M.J. Bradley and Associates prepared for the American Bus Association Foundation, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Reason Foundation reveals lower consumer and taxpayer costs and reduced emissions associated with motorcoach travel as compared with Amtrak’s rail system. ...

A Lesson in What Saving Money Means to Congress: Essential Air Service

Essential Air Service (EAS) reforms passed as part of last year’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization bill were intended...

Joint Letter to Congress: Support for Amendment to Cut Wasteful R,D&D

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined several groups today in urging Congress to eliminate wasteful subsidies for the United States Enrichment Corporation....

A Cigar for SIGAR – Documenting Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Waste in Afghanistan

The title says it all: “[Department of Defense] Moving Forward with $771.8 Million Purchase of Aircraft that the Afghans Cannot Operate...

Golden Fleece Award to Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority for a Decade of Waste Cheerleading a Bridge in Alaska

A press release from TCS on the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority being awarded the most recent "Golden Fleece."...

Small Taxpayer Victory: Outdated Airport Subsidy Reduced

In a small victory for taxpayers, the Department of Transportation (DOT) last week issued an order terminating Essential Air Service...

Washington Post Slams Charlottesville Bypass

Over the weekend, Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney published a piece about the ridiculous proposal to build the Charlottesville...

Joint Letter to the House: Reduce Wasteful Pentagon Spending

     June 13, 2013 Dear Representative: We, the leaders of our undersigned...

Skagit River Bridge Collapse

As you have no doubt heard by now, an interstate bridge collapsed on a major travel corridor in Washington State. The bridge spans the...

Disaster Reforms for Resiliency

Over the past decade, extreme weather and storms have become increasingly commonplace – including coastal storms, wildfires, droughts,...

Letter to the Senate: Oppose Fiscally Irresponsible Amendments to S. 601,  Water Resources Development Act of 2013

This bill is irresponsible and we urge you to oppose it and amendments that will make the bill worse....

Water Waste: Cut Costly Provisions from Water Resources Development Act

The Senate WRDA bill is too costly to stand....

Hagel Grabs the Axe

There was never any question that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would have to wield the budget axe—simple fiscal and political math...

Support Bill to Prioritize Payments on U.S. Debt

Today, TCS sent a letter to Rep. McClintock supporting his bill to prioritize payments on U.S. debt....

The Beat Continues on the Charlottesville Bypass

In a great piece about the proposed Charlottesville (VA) Bypass, James Bacon from Bacon’s Rebellion lays out several significant problems...

An Open Letter to President Obama and the Congress: Spend Less, and Spend Smarter at the Pentagon

TCS joined groups from across the political spectrum telling the President and Congress that the Pentagon’s budget must be right-sized....

Charlottesville Bypass Not a Worthy Federal Investment

Recently, TCS was invited to Charlottesville, Virginia to speak with citizens and reporters about a project we have opposed since the...

Military Brass Play a Fiscal Requiem for Defense

Capitol Hill’s hearing rooms again witnessed a vale of tears this week as the Armed Services Committees of both the House and Senate...

Step Outside the MOX

The Project On Government Oversight and Taxpayers for Common Sense are encouraged by reports of waning support for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) at the Savannah River Site...

Alexander to testify before Government Reform Committee today

Taxpayers for Common Sense President Ryan Alexander will be testifying before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on...

Lactose Intolerance: There is No Dairy Cliff

Don’t believe the hype. There is no milk cliff. Yes, after the new year, permanent farm law from 1949 (and 1938) will take effect, but...

Defense Authorization Bill: More Money, Less Savings

The Senate today passed the final version of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which, though late, will still beat the...

TCS Cited in Bipartisan Congressional Letter on Defense Savings

A group of eleven Democratic and eleven Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama and...

Use Common Sense to Rappel the Fiscal Cliff

Today, Taxpayers for Common Sense sent a “Common Sense Proposal to Rappel the Fiscal Cliff” to the President and congressional...

Don’t Toy With the Cliff: Support TCS Today

Dear Friends: Congress, the administration, and the punditry at large have been bemoaning the federal government’s fiscal situation....

Drought Fails to Dry Up Farm Profits

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that even after this year’s drought, farm profits are on pace to...

Report shows billions risked on oil shale speculation

With fiscal cliff looming, TCS calls for end to government handouts for failed oil shale experiments....

Preserve NNSA Cost Controls in Defense Authorization Bill

Taxpayers for Common Sense sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees today asking members to protect cost-controlling language for nuclear weapons in the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). ...

The Department of Everything

We love to remind people that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is the world’s largest bureaucracy, employing more than the world’s...

Congress: Avoid Fiscal Cliff and Go Home

Taxpayers for Common Sense sent a letter today to all members of the 112th Congress outlining what they should do regarding the fiscal cliff....

Remarks by TCS President Ryan Alexander on Fiscal Cliff

Taxpayers for Common Sense held a media conference call earlier today to discuss the outcomes of the election and what the Lame Duck...

President Ms. Ryan Alexander Sliding Past Sequestration Statement

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2012 CONTACTS: Steve Ellis 202-546-8500...

Statement Opposing Transportation Omnibus Bill

Washington, DC - We are deeply disappointed that Congress has chosen the easy way out in funding transportation reauthorization. By...

TCS Statement Opposing Transportation Omnibus Bill

The following is a written statement of Ms. Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on H.R. 4348, the transportation...

Green Scissors 2012 Finds Environmentally Destructive Federal Programs

Left-Right coalition identifies practical steps Congress could take to slash deficits, save natural resources....

Spending Even Less, Spending Even Smarter Report Released

Watchdog Groups Identify Nearly $700 Billion in Wasteful Spending on National Security...

House Passes Another Transportation Extension in Attempt to Get to Conference With Senate

The House today passed a 90-day extension of the nation’s federal transportation program (H.R. 4348) by a vote of 293-197. This...

TCS Statement on passage of ninth extension of the highway bill

For Immediate Release March 29, 2012 Contact: Steve Ellis (202) 546-8500 x126 Statement...

House Transportation Bill: The Current State of Play

Despite initial plans to move ahead with debate and of a transportation bill, political reality set in late yesterday and today for House...

President funds transportation with irresponsible ‘Peace Dividend’

The administration's FY 2013 Presidential Budget Request proposes a $476 billion six-year reauthorization bill. This is much higher...

TCS Analysis of the FY13 Presidential Budget Request

Last Updated: February 19, 2012 The FY2013 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning (2/13/2012). TCS staff will be posting...

TCS’s Reaction to the House’s Most Recent Transportation Bill

Taxpayers for Common Sense today released the following in reaction to the House’s most recent transportation bill: The House today...

Senate Transportation Bill: Driving in the Wrong Direction

Senate leadership is busy patting themselves on the back in the wake of Senate Finance Committee approval of a slate of “pay-fors” to...

Speaker’s “Drilling for Transportation Dollars” Proposal: A Dead End for Taxpayers

[Updated 2/1/2012] The Natural Resources Committee today passed three energy-related bills today, and the royalties that would result...

Hill Briefing: Don’t Drill and Drive: Weakening the User-Pays Highway Funding Principle Would Endanger Our Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure

TCS Hill Briefing: Don’t Drill and Drive: Weakening the “User-Pays” Highway Funding Principle Would Endanger Our Nation’s Transportation...

State of the Union Energy Proposals

Oil subsidies must go, but we can’t stop there; Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program will continue to fail; increased...

Outline of House’s Transportation Reauthorization Revealed

An outline of the House majority’s new transportation reauthorization proposal — The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act — was...

Plenty of Money Moving Around Defense Authorization Bill

Followers of the annual National Defense Authorization Act will recall the kerfuffle that occurred earlier this year after lawmakers in...

House Transportation Reauthorization Postponed as Deadline Approaches

With the March 31, 2012 expiration of nation’s surface transportation legislation steadily approaching, House leaders informed...

TCS Testifies on Royalties before House Natural Resources Subcommittee

Ms. Ryan Alexander President Taxpayers for Common Sense   Written Testimony submitted to the...

Transportation Reauthorization: Congress Needs to Pay to Pave

Both the House and Senate are poised to begin deliberations over different versions of transportation reauthorization legislation. Though...

California’s Rail Project Costs More Than Double

According to a business plan released by the California High Speed Rail Authority this week, the costs for a high speed rail connection...

Deal May Increase Transportation Spending, But at What Cost?

Updated 9/28/2011 Reports of a meeting between House Republican leadership and Rep. John Mica (R-FL), Chair of the Transportation and...

Joint Letter in Support of Common Sense Flood Insurance Amendments

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined other groups in support of the two amendments Senator Hagan (D-NC) filed to the Flood Insurance Reform...

TCS Testifies on the Inland Waterways Trust Fund

Today, TCS Vice President Steve Ellis will be testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water...

The American Jobs Act: Concerns mount over President’s Infrastructure Bank proposal

On Tuesday, September 12th, the Obama Administration released the text of the “American Jobs Act” which includes $447 billion in tax...

House and Senate Craft Disappointing Extension of Surface Transportation, FAA Programs

After negotiations between majority leaders in the House and Senate, a bill was introduced that would extend the surface transportation...

Taxpayers for Common Sense Supports Consideration of Stillwater Bridge Alternative

A coalition of local organizations released an alternative to the proposed $700 million Stillwater Bridge replacement. This alternative...

Senate Energy Committee Needs to Stop the Clean Energy Deployment Administration

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined with other groups urging Congress to save taxpayers from footing the bill for billions in risky loans by not creating the Clean Energy Deployment Administration....

Coalition Letter Opposing Clean Energy Deployment Administration

Taxpayers for Common Sense and a coalition of groups sent a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee calling for them to oppose the Clean Energy Deployment Administration....

Coalition Letter Opposing NATGAS Act—A Bill to Subsidize the Natural Gas Vehicle Industry

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined 16 other taxpayer and conservative groups on an open letter to Congress urging them to oppose yet another new energy subsidy. ...

Coalition Letter Opposing Wasteful Mississippi River Locks

Taxpayers for Common Sense recently joined other Nicollet Island Coalition members on a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers detailing how new locks on the Upper Mississippi are economically unjustified....

Updates & Budgetary Gimmicks in the Final Continuing Resolution Unveiled by House Appropriations

The House Appropriations Committee released the final Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the federal government for the rest of the 2011...

TCS Letter to the House & Senate Energy & Water Development Subcommittees: Stop New Authority To DOE Loan Guarantee Program

Taxpayers for Common Sense along with the George C. Marshall Institute, the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the National Taxpayers Union, sent a letter to both the House and Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittees urging lawmakers to not provide additional loan guarantee authority to the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program in the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill....

TCS Mentioned on Capitol Hill (February)

Taxpayers for Common Sense was mentioned numerous times on Capitol Hill this February.  CSPAN video provided below: February 7,...

Energy Committee Questions DOE on Budget

Senate Energy Committee’s Hearing on the President’s FY2012 Budget Request Earlier this week the President released his budget request...

Ongoing Analysis of Debate Over FY11 Continuing Resolution

The House of Representatives is debating a Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal year 2011 (through...

UPDATE: Gates Shifts Defense Dollars

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today gave what was billed as one of the longest speeches in his current job, defining the battlefield for...

President Pumps up Nuke Budget Again

The White House released a plan yesterday to pump up their investment in the United States’ nuclear weapons complex by another $4.1...

Reforms Proposed by National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Co-Chairs Unveiled Today

The Co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform gave their proposals to fellow Commission members today....

As the Armed Services Committee Turns

Now that the final ballots have come in, it’s time to assess the impact the midterms will have on the Congressional committees that...

VA Senators Author Amendment to Stop JFCOM Closure

Democratic Virginia Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner said today they will introduce an amendment to the FY2012 defense authorization...

New Report Urges Comprehensive Security Spending

A bipartisan group of national security experts including Taxpayers for Common Sense today released a report calling for a budget that...

TCS on Gates Defense Reforms: One Small Step Forward

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new belt-tightening initiatives at the Department of Defense are a positive step forward. But much more...

Still Fortifying Against Barge Company Bailouts

The IWTF was created to pay for construction and maintenance on much of the nation’s most used waterways. Funded by a tax on fuel used...

Taxpayers Oppose Barge Company Bailout

Taxpayers for Common Sense recently joined a number of other organizations in opposing attempts to further weaken cost-sharing...

DOD Audit Still Nowhere in Sight

The Defense Department yesterday turned over to Congress an update on its attempts to pass an audit. Though Congress mandated audits back...

Ensuring Taxpayer Losses

TCS Vice President Steve Ellis was invited to testify before a House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee holding a hearing...

TCS Letter in Opposition to Potentially Costly Water Bill

Today the House Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on  Water and Power held a hearing on H.R. 4225, a bill sponsored by Rep....

House Approves 3-Month Highway Bill Extension

The House of Representatives last night voted overwhelmingly – 335-85 – to extend the nation’s transportation program (SAFETEA-LU), which...

Oversight and Government Reform Hearing on the V-22 Osprey

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing Tuesday on the future of the V-22 Osprey, an aircraft with a...

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee: Hearing on Highway Trust Fund Insolvency

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discussed the looming insolvency of the highway trust fund today with Secretary of...

Hearing on the 2010 Dept. of Transportation Budget: House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

On June 4th, Rep. John Olver (D-MA) led the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and...

Corps of Engineers Releases Stimulus Project List

Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released their stimulus project list. The first thing that comes to mind is that the Obama...

Members of Congress Voice Support for Cost-Effective Salmon Recovery

This week more than 70 Representatives sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama asking for his commitment to restoring Columbia and...

The President’s Energy Budget

The President’s budget released last week includes $ 26.3 billion for the Department of Energy, a $2.1 billion increase over 2008 and...

The Non-Oversight Cannon

Last week we told you about a congressman’s efforts to feed the already overstuffed Army modernization program called Future Combat...

Highway Group Calls for Doubling of Transportation Spending

In case you missed it, the American Association of State and Highway Officials (AASHTO) earlier this week announced its proposal for a...

DHS Needs to Slow Down, Rethink Fencing Future

The Department of Homeland Security blames its doubled cost estimates for the border fence on pricey fuel, labor and materials. But it’s...

Highway Trust Fund Fix Hurts Taxpayers

The Senate yesterday approved an $8 billion transfer from the Treasury to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) (the House passed the same measure...

GAO: Border Costs Climbing the Fence

Federal watchdogs confirmed our suspicions today when they revealed that the cost of building a 600+ mile fence along our southern border...

Roadless Rule Struck Down Again

The so-called roadless rule, promulgated in the final days of the Clinton Administration, has once again been struck down by U.S....

TCS Requests Don Young Campaign Remove Misleading Ads

Recently it was brought to our attention that Alaskans for Don Young has been running radio ads claiming that Taxpayers for Common Sense...

Los Alamos’ Insecurity Complex

Though two of the nation’s largest nuclear labs are no doubt sad to see their patron Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) depart Congress, the...

End of a Nuclear Era

Nuclear weapons labs and the Senator who loves them closed a chapter yesterday when the Senate cut funding for a controversial program to...

GAO Finds Funny Fence Numbers at DHS

At last, the Department of Homeland Security has given us some idea of what its border fence is going to cost—and it looks like a...

Highway Trust Fund Being Driven to Bankruptcy

Last week, USA Today had a story about how the decline in miles traveled by America’s drivers, largely the result of historically high...

The Gas Tax Holiday:  Good Politics, Bad Policy

With the average price of a gallon of gasoline over $3.601 and diesel well over $4.002, it’s no surprise that political solutions to the...

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...