(Washington, D.C.) – Today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released its January WasteWatcher, a monthly dispatch to members of the news media, highlighting some of the most prominent fiscal issues affecting American taxpayers.  The stories from its January edition of WasteWatcher are listed in part as follows:

Solar Socialism 2.0: The Subsidy Saga Continues

By William M. Christian

On December 1, 2015, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) published a report, “The Sun Should Set on Solar Socialism.”  The report reviewed the history of federal energy subsidies, particularly the dramatic increase in funding following the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  Between 2004 and 2015, tax expenditures for alternative electricity generation cost $13.7 billion.  Read the full story here.

Why the Obamacare Reconciliation Bill is So Important

By Elizabeth Wright

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3762, the Restoring American’s Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, by a vote of 240 to 181, after which it was sent to President Obama. The bill jettisons many provisions within the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare.  Read the full story here.

Congressional Insanity: Holding ITFA Hostage to MFA

By Deborah Collier

When members of Congress impede the passage of popular legislation in order to attach something totally unrelated, the results are usually harmful to the American people.  The ongoing effort to tie together a permanent ban on Internet access taxes with an online sales tax scheme is just the latest example of this unfortunate practice.  Read the full story here.

Scrubbing Oppressive Federal Regulations

By Curtis Kalin

The current political conversation is dominated by taxes and spending, which leaves out one of the most impactful activities of the federal government: regulations.  The burdens that regulations place on individuals and businesses are often overlooked and underreported and the regulatory process is long overdue for major reform.  Read the full story here.

Right to Work and the Friedrichs Case

By Rachel Cole

On January 11, 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.  Rebecca Friedrichs, a schoolteacher in Anaheim, California, brought the case, which addresses two key questions:  do public-sector union agreements violate the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of speech and assembly, and does the First Amendment prohibit the practice of requiring public employees to affirmatively opt-out of subsidizing political speech rather than to affirmatively consent?  Read the full story here.

CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.