The United States Postal Service isn’t known for its whiz-kid, early adoption of shape-shifting technology innovations. While the private sector has been screaming along, birthing cutting-edge, disruptive technologies in the communications, transportation, and logistics sector, the USPS has remained mired in its top-heavy, sclerotic, analog, bricks-and-mortar past. For example, the USPS has been preparing to procure […]
Is Obamacare Teetering?
So many things have happened to Obamacare these past couple of months, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. Insurers say “Buh Bye” In April, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, UnitedHealthcare, announced it will pull out of most of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA), or Obamacare, marketplace exchanges by 2017. Why? Because in […]
OMB Tackles Some Low-Hanging Fruit
On January 20, 2016, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) weighed in on a request for comments from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the requirements that should be included in its guidance to federal departments and agencies for improving the management and purchasing of software assets. CAGW recommended that agencies should be required […]
SCOTUS Provides Eagle Eye of Oversight for Hawkes Case
On May 31, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued its ruling in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. The case raised the question whether property owners could challenge “jurisdictional determinations” by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). USACE considered Hawkes’ land to be “navigable waters,” based on the […]
In Jeopardy: Shuster’s Loftier Vision for Air Traffic Control Modernization
In today’s early edition of “Morning Consult,” an online digest of relevant public policy activities in the nation’s capital, the journal highlighted the disparities between the Senate and House versions of legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In April, the Senate passed their version overwhelmingly (95-3), while the House bill (approved by the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee) has not made it to the floor yet.
CAGW to NPS: Show Me the Data
Today, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies marked-up (read and amended) its fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill.
Let the USDA Catfish Inspection Program Off The Hook!
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) catfish inspection program has already been called out on nine separate occasions, February 2011, March 2011, May 2012, February 2013, April 2013, April 2014, December 2014, February 2015, and April 2015, by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as a program that duplicates another catfish inspection program operating at the Food & Drug Administration. With the release of its April 2016 report on duplication, the GAO once again highlighted the problem.
CAGW Outraged by HHS OIG’s Latest Improper Payment Review
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) was outraged, if not surprised, at the report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) showing the ongoing failure of HHS executives to accurately report and prevent improper payments. With the government-wide improper payment total at a staggering $137 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2015 (and rising), the OIG outlines some of the steps that agency has taken to stem the tide of red ink, but finds significant operational failures, in both its reporting of improper payments and implementing corrective action plans.
State Tobacco Settlement Funds Go Up In Smoke
In 1998, 46 states and five U.S. territories signed onto the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in order to recover taxpayer dollars lost to the treatment of tobacco-related health issues, which would then be used to fund anti-smoking campaigns and public health programs. As part of the settlement, the states and territories will receive an estimated total of $246 billion over the first 25 years.
Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations: Poor Track Record, Poor Outlook
In January 2016, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared their intention to punctually approve the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government. Perhaps this declaration was designed to mark the ten-year anniversary of the last time this feat was accomplished, in fiscal year (FY) 2006.