So this is Sen. Manchin’s (D-West Virginia) solution to the demise of the coal mining industry? Let’s review: This administration, run by one of Manchin’s own party and enthusiasctially supported by other prominent Democrats like VP Joe Biden and presidential hopeful and former NY Senator Hillary Clinton, attacked and killed a whole industry with complete disregard […]
Donald Trump Commits to Several CAGW-Endorsed Reforms to Eliminate Government Waste
At a speech to the Union League in Philadelphia today, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump committed to several government-wide reforms that could save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars:
The God of Communications is Alive and Well at the FCC
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler is doing his best to emulate Mercury, the God of Communications, whose portfolio also covered commerce and transportation. (He was also known as a trickster and guided people into the Underworld.) The chairman has imposed ancient communications laws on the Internet, usurped the Federal Trade Commission’s role on […]
Maryland’s Proposed Purple Line Update
On August 3, 2016, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Purple Line, a proposed light-rail project in Maryland, was ineligible for federal funding until the state recalculates the Purple Line’s ridership forecasts. In nearby Washington, D.C., the public transit system (Metro), administered by the Washington […]
OMB: House Spending Bills Over Statutory Spending Caps Bust the Statutory Caps
In a sequestration report released on August 19, 2016, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found that the fiscal year (FY) 2017 appropriations bills in the House are $792 million over the discretionary caps. If signed into law, the spending bill would result in across-the-board spending cuts to enforce the statutory cap if a […]
Postal Workers Protest Privatization of USPS, and Other Wishful Reforms
On August 23, 2016, postal workers held a rally on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the American Postal Workers Union’s convention in Orlando, Florida. The union has come out against the TPP because they believe the agreement would ban postal banking and other non-postal activities while leading to the privatization of the postal service and […]
The Obamacare Sink Hole
On March 29, 2013, editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez drew a cartoon of the United States with a huge sinkhole in the middle of it and the words “Obamacare” spread across its center. The drawing certainly was foretelling of what Americans could expect from the misnamed Affordable Care Act (ACA). More than three years later, it seems […]
Reduce Regulatory Burdens Instead of Increasing Fees
Innovative technology has become the foundation for performing mundane tasks, such as vacationing, buying groceries, and even catching a ride, in new inventive ways. The sharing economy is on the cusp of such a revolution, using mobile apps to offer consumers new ways to connect with the services they want to use. However, as noted […]
VA Scandal Rages On In 2016
One of the most crippling scandals of the Obama administration is poised to outlast the president’s time in office. The outrageous patient wait times at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics nationwide have not waned since the issue burst into the public consciousness in 2014. Indeed, the scandal has widened and the depth of the misconduct has continued unabated.
The FCC’s Lifeline Breakdown
Citizens Against Government Waste highlighting the programmatic issues of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and its Lifeline program for low-income individuals in its 2014 report Telecom Unplugged: Ushering in a New Digital Era. The USF was created by Congress to expand communications technology in unserved regions of the country. The original mission of the Lifeline support program was to provide basic telephone service to low-income individuals. This program was expanded in 2008 to include wireless phone service, and on March 31, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to further expand the program to include broadband internet subsidies.