A Monthly Dispatch From Citizens Against Government Waste

Sandy Relief Bill is a Disaster
By Luke Gelber

On November 18, 2012, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) told Politico that spending cuts triggered by the “fiscal cliff” projected to take effect on January 1 would be “devastating,” and that they would “really compromise our domestic security and our capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters like [Superstorm Sandy].” For that bit of scare-mongering, Sen. Lieberman was named Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Porker of the Month …

CAGW’s Top Technology and Telecommunications Issues for 2013
By Deborah Collier

The technology and telecommunications industries are vital and innovative sectors of the U.S. economy. Advances in these fields have a positive impact on other industries such as health care, education, transportation, and services …

Tanking the Taxpayers
By Sean Kennedy

The hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks that Congress has approved for upgrades to the M1 Abrams are so “vital” for national security that the Department of Defense (DOD) has more than 2,000 of the tanks parked in a California desert …

GM Bailout Could Get Much Worse
By PJ Austin

When the decision was made to bail out the auto industry, it was widely known that taxpayers would be saddled with a multi-billion dollar price tag, although no one knew what the exact cost would be. The Obama administration claimed that the cost would be worthwhile because of the number of jobs saved by the bailout. However, the administration may want to rethink its stance; if an upcoming court case is not decided in General Motors’ (GM) favor, taxpayers could be poised to lose another $31.3 billion on top of the current, optimistic projection of $25.1 billion …

Higher Taxes Will Lead to New Spending
By Tom Miller

The fiscal cliff, a combination of automatic budget cuts and tax increases set to take effect at the beginning of 2013, has dominated the news since the 2012 Presidential election. The effect of going off the cliff would be detrimental to the U.S. economy, potentially leading to a 3.6 percent decline in the gross domestic product. These impending negative consequences have led to Congress and the president scrambling to strike a deal …

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.