Let’s be clear. There is no fixing Obamacare. Insurance premiums have skyrocketed, deductibles are so high that an insurance plan is almost worthless to millions of Americans, people have fewer choices, and many insurers are leaving the exchanges in numerous counties across the country. Remember how President Obama promised his healthcare reform law would save […]
Statement by CAGW President Tom Schatz on the Beginning of the 115th Congress
CAGW President Tom Schatz released the following statement on the start of the 115th Congress: Taxpayers have good reason to be optimistic for the New Year. For the first time, the nation will have a president and cabinet with substantial experience managing large, complex organizations; and there’s nothing bigger and more complicated than the federal […]
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.
Power of the Purse and Budget Process Reform
Since the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) was first passed, Congress has been able to pass the 12 appropriations bills on time on only three occasions; the most recent was in 1997. Although the CBA has been amended several times, the budget process remains as broken as it is confusing. It allows members of […]
Fixing the FCC
The peaceful transfer of power to a new administration has been a key part of the nation’s history. This is particularly important when there is a change in parties at the White House.
Beware of Midnight Regulations
As President Barack Obama’s term comes to an end, many federal agencies and departments are attempting to beat the clock by jamming a flurry of new regulations onto the books before January 20, 2017.
Recovery Auditors and the Administrative Law Backlog: More “Fake News” Debunked
News junkies have been inundated lately with commentary on the ubiquity of “fake news” and its viral spread online. On December 12, 2016, The New York Times President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson gave a thought-provoking speech before the Detroit Economic Club in which he made some incisive observations about the epidemic of junk news, including the fact that in this new anything-goes, free-for-all information environment, it is easy to forget that “fake news is not new. The spreading of false rumors for political advantage, for pure malice, or just for entertainment, is as old as the hills….Until something is proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. …Though it often seems like it to partisans, this is not a battle between Left and Right. …It’s a battle between facts and lies.”
The Trump Trifecta: Three Branches, New Faces
The chattering political class, with scant exception, prognosticated that Donald J. Trump had only the narrowest of opportunities to win the White House in the 2016 general election. Indeed, many such solons suggested that his bombastic style, in addition to losing his own race, might also cost the Republicans control of the Senate (all but a foregone conclusion, given that the GOP was in a much more vulnerable position, defending 24 of the 34 seats up for election).
NPS Ban on Bottled Water – “Going Forward”
For more than a year, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been investigating the National Park Service’s (NPS) ban on the sale of bottled water, believing it was an obtrusive inconvenience to visitors and a waste of taxpayer dollars. To date, 23 parks have decided to follow NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis’s December 14, 2011 NPS Policy Memorandum 11-03. This policy allows parks, on a case-by-case basis, and after an extensive review and approval by their respective regional directors, to ban the sale of water contained in disposable plastic bottles. The stated purpose of the ban was to reduce plastic in the parks’ waste stream and to decrease the carbon footprint as part of the NPS’s “Go Green” initiative.
California’s “Netflix Tax”
Cities in the Golden State are exploring what they might call a “golden opportunity” to compensate for the loss of tax revenue from declining cable-television subscriptions as more Americans choose video streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.