On Tuesday, December 2, the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) opened its doors to its owners – the taxpayers – for the first time. After six years of construction and countless revisions, what seemed like a never-ending project has finally reached completion. While the CVC provides new services for visitors and a nice view of the Capitol, it is the $621 million price tag that has been making news.
USDA Makes $49 Million in Payments to Ineligible Individuals
In October, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report titled “Federal Farm Programs: USDA Needs to Strengthen Controls to Prevent Payments to Individuals Who Exceed Income Eligibility Limits.” The report was requested by Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Troubles With TARP
Barely sixty days after its establishment, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is itself, well, in big trouble.
The Mayors’ Stocking Stuffers
In anticipation of the rapid passage of a $1 trillion stimulus package as soon as President-elect Obama and the new Congress take office in January, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released its wish-list of what it called “shovel-ready” projects that the Conference claims can be completed in 2009 and 2010 and will create 847,000 new jobs. With taxpayers already experiencing the worst holiday season in years, this is another big lump of coal in their stockings.
Fat Corporate Welfare Payouts
On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama won the battle for the Presidency. On January 20, 2008, he will face many difficult challenges. The national economic and financial crisis will place a heavy burden on the federal government. With a $1 trillion budget deficit projected for the current fiscal year, and a federal debt spiraling past $10 trillion, President-elect Obama ought to be preparing to trim some serious fat. Throughout his campaign, he pledged to go through the budget line-by-line in order to cut wasteful spending. While there are multiple of ways to attack government waste, eliminating corporate welfare programs should be one of President-elect Obama’s top priorities.
CAGW’s Project: Privacy
Project: Privacy was created in 2008 and is affiliated with Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).
CAGW’s Project: Privacy will examine government’s role in ensuring that every person’s information is protected and help citizens manage their privacy. Through education and coalition building, Project: Privacy will build a bi-partisan network of groups and individuals to recommend effective privacy policy at all levels of government.
The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars
On November 17, 2008 the Washington Post reported that President-elect Obama “wooed” federal employees in seven federal agencies at the behest of American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO President John Gage. The Post stated that the Obama letters provided “more specifics than he did on the campaign trail” about changes he would make at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Departments of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Labor, Veterans Affairs, the Social Security and the Transportation Security Administrations if he became President. Only the Defense Department was not assured of any increase in spending, just a promise to revise the National Security Personnel System, which was the Bush administration’s attempt to modernize the DOD civil service system.
The 111th Congress: House of Card Check
Ironically, as Congress debates a bailout for the auto industry partly as a result of its massive, union-stimulated legacy costs, there are widespread expectations that Congress and the Obama administration will quickly try to push though the so-called “card check” legislation after the inaugural parties wind down.
The “Not-So-Big Three” Beg for a Bailout
The so-called “Big Three” domestic automakers, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford have kicked into overdrive to lobby Congress to salvage what is left of their business operations using taxpayer funds. General Motors, which has entered negative cash-flow territory, is widely predicted to go belly-up unless it receives massive infusions of money. Analysts predict that GM’s demise would drag the other two down as well. After two days of contentious hearings on Capital Hill on November 18 and 19, auto executives departed without a deal and, at least for now, Congress has slammed the brakes on a straight bailout. Instead, lawmakers have tasked automakers with furnishing a detailed plan for long-term industry “viability and sustainability” before any legislative action is taken.
RAC-king Up Medicare Savings
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its most recent analysis of improper payments in the Medicare program on November 17, 2008. The good news is that vigorous cost recovery programs have helped whittle the percentage of improper payments in the Medicare fee-for-service program from 3.9 percent in FY 2007 to 3.6 percent this year.