This Week in Waste – March 21, 2025

Welcome to This Week in Waste, a series by Citizens Against Government Waste that highlights how taxpayer dollars are being wasted on the local, state, and federal levels.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) Releases New Estimate of Improper Payments

The GAO released its updated estimate of improper payments by federal agencies on March 11, 2025.  The report found that “in FY 2024, 16 federal agencies reported a total estimate of about $162 billion in improper payments across 68 programs.  Of these, approximately 84 percent were a result of overpayments.”  GAO also noted that since FY 2003, there has been an estimated total of $2.8 trillion in improper payments.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Holds Hearing on Improper Payments and Fraud

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations held its first hearing of the 119th Congress on March 11, 2025.  The hearing, titled Shifting Gears: Moving from Recovery to Prevention of Improper Payments and Fraud, shows that combatting improper payments and fraud is a bipartisan priority in Congress.

President Trump Signs Executive Order Eliminating the Department of Education

President Trump delivered taxpayers a major victory on March 20, 2025, when he signed an executive order that would start the process of eliminating the Department of Education.  The idea of shuttering the Department of Education will return education to state and local control, and was first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in September 1981, only 16 months after the department began operations in May 1980. 

Carried Interest Taxes Should Not be Raised

Raising taxes on carried interest should not occur because it would stifle investment and economic growth.  Read more here.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is Anything But Innovative

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is neither centered nor innovative.  Read more here.

Check back next week for more examples of how the government is squandering the taxpayer’s money.