A report by former top Commerce Department official and Clinton economic adviser Robert Shapiro reveals the inherent subsidies and monopoly benefits provided to the United States Postal Service (USPS) result in more than $18 billion in financial competitive advantages per year.
IG Finds 30 percent of EPA’s Expensive Research Equipment Sat Idle for Years, Some More Than a Decade
Nearly $3 million dollars’ worth of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) equipment has been gathering dust in a warehouse, according to a March 16, 2015 Inspector General’s (IG) audit.
Navy Showers for All?
It is bad enough the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) squandered $2 million of taxpayer money on grants and projects to capture methane gas from agricultural waste and landfills in foreign countries, $15 million on fraudulent credit card use, and in spite of several employees’ illicit behavior, such as watching pornography or running a business while at work, not one has been fired.
GAO Cites Billions Left on the Chopping Block
The prevailing wisdom inside the Beltway and especially among big-government politicians and bureaucrats is one that was espoused by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2013. Flummoxed by a reporter’s question on budget cuts, she literally threw up her hands and exclaimed, “The cupboard is bare! There’s no more cuts to make!”
Transportation Boondoggles: Streetcars (and Other Things) Lacking Desire
The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but in the “DMV” (not the Department of Motor Vehicles, but a local acronym describing the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), it is lined with ill-conceived transit projects, some of which are being given greater scrutiny by chastened elected leaders.
Medicare House of Cards: Bringing Down the RAC Program
All of Washington, D.C., as well as the rest of the country, has been binging on the third season of the wildly popular Netflix original series “House of Cards,” the sordid tale of Washington politicians who will stop at nothing to bend the power structure to their will in order to gain power, prestige, and money.
Intellectual Property Is Personal
On February 26, 2015, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) held a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss intellectual property (IP) rights, including copyrights, patents, brand recognition and trademarks.
King v. Burwell: Judicial Branch Should Judge, Not Legislate
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments to King v. Burwell. It is one of four lawsuits that challenge the IRS’s regulation that allows subsidies to assist people to purchase health insurance in Federally-facilitated Exchanges under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as ObamaCare. The plaintiffs argued that the plain language of the law only allows subsidies to assist people in an Exchange “established by a State” while the Obama administration is arguing the IRS was correct when it decided to provide subsidies for enrollees in both types of Exchanges. The Exchanges are the on-line marketplaces where people can shop and purchase health insurance. The Supreme Court heard the case because there have been conflicting rulings within the lower courts as to whether the IRS acted legally.
Keep the Caps
Based on all of the bloviating around Washington, D.C., about how sequestration is inflexible and unworkable, one would assume that the entire federal budget process is about to explode. In reality, the caps on federal discretionary spending are scheduled to increase every year through fiscal year (FY) 2021; just not by as much as some would like.
Plain Packaging Spreads to Ireland
Following Australia’s 2012 foray into plain packaging, the Irish Senate adopted a resolution to restrict the use of corporate logos and trademarks on cigarette packaging on March 3, 2015.