Sean Kennedy

Transportation

Murkowski’s Folly

April 3, 2014

The first rule of communications is crafting an effective message. 

A March 11, 2014 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times by former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt provided a unique glimpse into how messaging used by politicians can shift over time.  The editorial detailed the push in the 1990s by former Senators Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to build a 38-mile road connecting the Alaskan towns of King Cove and Cold Bay.  Opposed by the Clinton administration, the idea was to expedite the movement of seafood from the salmon canneries in King Cove to the airport in Cold Bay for distribution. 

Defense

Defense Bill: Good, Bad, and Ugly

February 12, 2014

As taxpayers peruse the Department of Defense (DOD) section of the monolithic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R. 3547) that funds the federal government through fiscal year (FY) 2014, they will find mixed blessings. The positive news is that the budget for the Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) was slashed by 58.5 percent, from $267,214,000 […]

General Waste

Problem Identified, Solution Needed

January 17, 2014

 “The problem isn’t that we don’t know what the problem is, the problem is that we [members of Congress] don’t act,” Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stated in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on January 9, 2014. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz echoed Sen. Coburn’s comments in his testimony […]

Defense

A Bittersweet Victory for CAGW

November 14, 2013

Ronald Reagan once said, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear.  Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”  A corollary to that notion is that in the rare circumstance when a government agency or program disappears, it does not necessarily die.  Such is the case with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), a missile defense system long opposed by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).

Budget, Postal Service

To Boldly Go Where No Congress Has Gone Before

September 11, 2013

The 113th Congress is headed toward a very humble place in the record books by passing the fewest number of bills signed into law since that statistic was first tracked more than 70 years ago.  Thus far, the House and Senate have passed only 15 bills, including one all-important piece of legislation that specified “the size of precious-metal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins.”  The current record low of 220 bills was set in the 112th Congress.

Defense

DCGS May Need to be Deep-Sixed

July 15, 2013

The Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A), a network-based tool intended to provide real-time access to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, invokes a strong reaction from both its proponents and detractors.  According to Army brass, DCGS-A represents a breakthrough in intelligence support capability, while users have called it a “huge, bloated, excessively expensive money pit.”

Appropriations, Communications, Congress, General Waste, International, National Security

Mixed News on Defense

June 8, 2013

The summer appropriations process for the Department of Defense (DOD), beginning with the initial authorizing bills, has thus far brought a mixed bag of news. On the positive side, the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directs the Pentagon to look for commercial products capable of performing functions currently under the purview […]