The least favorite government agency during the month of April is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (although that may be true every month of the year). During the 2015 tax season, only 38 percent of phone calls were answered, as the IRS hung up on more than 30 million taxpayers. The tax code and tax regulations combined are more than 70,000 pages long. Annual compliance with IRS paperwork takes 8.9 billion hours and costs the economy $409 billion in lost productivity.
Waste Abounds in the Land of the Midnight Sun
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a hearing to consider the construction of a road linking the town of King Cove to Cold Bay, and the latter’s all-weather airport. At issue is H.R. 218, introduced by Federal Lands Subcommittee member Don Young (R-Alaska) in January 2017, which […]
Obscuring the Cost Growth of the “Little Crappy Ship”
The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), referred to as the “Little Crappy Ship” by some inside the Navy, has been a disaster since its inception. The difficulties experienced by the program range from a vaguely defined mission, a lack of firepower and survivability, and design flaws leading to cracks in the hull and corrosion. The number of ships has been cut in half, from 55 to 28, while the cost per ship has increased by 117.3 percent, from $220 million to $478 million.
Pentagon Obscures Cost Growth of “Little Crappy Ship”
According to a March 2017 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review, which is charged with reviewing information to be released to the public, blocked awkward information regarding cost growth in a historically wasteful program. The GAO was forced to delete cost increases of two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) […]
GAO’s High Risk List: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
The latest iteration of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) biennial High-Risk Series, released on February 15, 2017, added three programs and removed one. The new areas included programs serving Indian tribes, environmental liabilities, and the 2020 census, while terrorism-related information sharing disappeared from the list.
Mulvaney Faces Uphill Battle on Defense Spending
Incoming Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) will be tasked with developing plans to cut trillions of dollars in spending, based on the ideas being floated by the Trump transition team. While there are always challenges to implement such proposals, mostly from members of Congress, any suggestions to cut defense spending will face a particularly tough fight. However, Director Mulvaney should be a good fit for this effort. During his tenure in the House of Representatives, he established a track record of pushing to reduce both domestic and defense spending.
Anachronistic Earmark Offering from Culberson, Rogers, and Rooney
Americans might fondly remember 2006: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was the top grossing movie, Sexyback by Justin Timberlake was at the top of the charts, and Bob Barker announced his retirement from The Price is Right.
Procurement Blues: Competition Needed to Fix Defense Contracting
Upon assuming the office of Secretary of Defense in February 2015, Ashton Carter prioritized recruiting private sector companies – especially those in technology industries – to bid on contracts awarded by the Department of Defense (DOD).
Show Me the Budget
Americans might fondly remember many experiences from 1996, including watching “Independence Day” and “Jerry Maguire,” reading about the cloning of Dolly the sheep, dancing to the Macarena, and surfing new websites such as Ask Jeeves and eBay.
SIGAR: U.S. Facilitated Afghan Corruption, Reacted Slowly
The first in a series of “lessons learned” reports released in September 2016 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko has indicated that the U.S. introduced billions of dollars of aid into a corrupt system, sometimes benefiting militia members and warlords. According to the report, in some instances, U.S. aid […]