Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) was founded in 1984 following the release of the Grace Commission report.  The advocacy of the organization and its more than one million members and supporters has resulted in savings for taxpayers of more than $825 billion.

The organization's purpose, as described in its application for exemption under Section 501( c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, is "to conduct nonpartisan analysis and research of waste and inefficiency in government," and "disseminate information and conduct its education and publishing activities using the media (printed, television and radio) ... publications, magazines, newsletters, etc."

CAGW utilizes a broad array of information sources for an agenda that is as wide in scope as the operations of government at every level (federal, state and local).  It always exercises its own discretion to decide which issues it will research and publish at any particular time.

Does CAGW receive contributions from a wide array of citizens, corporations and other organizations?  Yes, it does.  These contributions support an agenda that is well-known to our members, political officials, and the press.  Our agenda produces supporters, not the other way around.

On July 21, 2006, CAGW provided a 14-page letter (available on p. 554 of the Senate Finance Committee Minority Report) and two full boxes of documents in response to the minority staff's request for information about the "relationship" between the law firm of Preston Gates and CAGW.  The minority staff report, released on the eve of a national election, was selective in its use of CAGW's response.  It failed to include the lengthy history of CAGW's activities on both postal service and education issues, which date back to the Grace Commission in 1984, and all of which are well within the group's nonprofit mission.

The significant amounts of published material on these topics were produced both before and after what can only be characterized as an insignificant contribution from a single Preston Gates client.  It has already been demonstrated that Jack Abramoff misled his clients in his ability to produce results, and the content of the emails related to CAGW are no different.

Therefore, the accusation by Senator Baucus in the committee's press release that "The nonprofits investigated here have strayed a very long way from how most Americans, and the Congress, assume nonprofits behave," is false and misleading when applied to CAGW.  Senator Baucus's other accusations are equally untrue.  Most absurd is the staff's inclusion of emails related to Channel One, which never contributed a penny to CAGW.

CAGW has a long history with Senator Baucus.  His designation as "Porker of the Month" in October 2004, and his 2005 rating on wasteful spending through the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste was 17 percent, making him "hostile" to taxpayers, may have something to do with his characterization of CAGW's activities. 

One of CAGW's co-founders, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jack Anderson, often talked about Washington as a place where innuendo and rumor get out of hand.  These days, with partisanship at its highest level in many years, the accusatory nature of the Senate Finance Committee Minority Report, made without any effort to interview CAGW regarding its assertions, underscores why voters hold Congress in such low regard.

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