Among the bevy of wasteful, misguided, market-distorting policies that comprise U.S. agricultural policy, perhaps none is more convoluted or a product of cronyism than the commodity support program for sugar.
Getting Rid of Antiquated Federal Programs
All things must end; however, federal agencies always seem to find new ways to justify continuing obsolete programs, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utility Service (RUS).
The ESPC Zone: Everyone Scores on Energy Efficiency
To the untrained ear, subjects like “Green this” and “LEED-certified that” might be expected to turn off the typical Republican, according to those who buy into the stereotype that those whose politics are right-of-center are disinterested in anything considered “environmentally conscious.” On the flip side, that same untrained ear might expect doctrinaire Democrats to balk at any profit-motivated business solution to significant government problems. But Reps. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) are managing to shred these paper tigers, without abandoning their respective ideological credentials. With a little help from their friends, Rep. Gardner and 11 more House Republicans have joined with Rep. Welch and 15 of his Democratic colleagues in forming the House Energy Savings Performance Caucus.
Recovery Audit Contracting: The Wave of the Future
On the large list of sources of waste in Medicare, improper payments are near the top. According to a February 27, 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, “In 2012, the Medicare program covered more than 49 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $555 billion, and reported improper payments estimated to be more than $44 billion.” Medicare’s high level of complexity and susceptibility to improper payments are among the reasons that the GAO designates Medicare as a high-risk area. One method that has proven successful in reducing improper payments is the increased usage of recovery audit contractors (RACs).
Software Management Necessary to Save Taxpayer Dollars
On May 10, 2013, Citizens Against Government Waste hosted a briefing on “Saving Taxpayer Dollars through Better Software Management’ to bring light to the need for sound software procurement policy, particularly in these times of fiscal constraint. The panelists were the former Department of Homeland Security Chief Information Officer and former Chief Information Officer for the Aviation Traffic Organization at the Federal Aviation Administration Steven I. Cooper, and Eric Cho, a procurement policy analyst for the Department of Homeland Security currently on assignment with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The event was moderated by this author.
Another IRS Box-Office Hit!
We’ve heard a lot about the IRS’s over-the-top targeting and harassment of conservative and tea party groups and how the agency delayed the groups’ applications for non-profit status. But the hits just keep coming for the IRS. This past weekend, we were treated to the spectacle of IRS employees doing a tax-payer funded line dance […]
Forever Red in Illinois
As the Illinois legislature winds up the 2013 session by creating a new $750,000 “Forever Green Illinois Program” (it’s really there on pp. 8-9 of the 284-page budget bill) that would fund the “maintenance and beautification of greenery,” including grass, weeds, trees, shrubs, bushes, and plants on state or local government property, elected officials should also consider adopting a new official […]
Set and Match!
On Tuesday, May 28, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) ruling on the placement of the Tennis Channel in Comcast’s cable tiers of service. Comcast, a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), already offered the Tennis Channel to its subscribers in its premium package, as part of […]
Uptick in Part Timers Linked to Obamacare
Trend is Toward Fewer Hours Not More Jobs First, let me offer congratulations to the 165,000 families whose personal unemployment rate went from 100% to 0%, always a joyous event, both in terms of economics, as well as self-worth and esteem, during the last month! Unfortunately, it is widely estimated that the minimum average monthly […]
Slow Progress, but Progress Nonetheless
On May 21, 2013, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the approval of Amazon Web Services as an authorized cloud service provider for the federal government under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted the application for Amazon Web Services to receive its provisional authority […]