In 1995, the House of Representatives passed a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to the Constitution, but it failed in the Senate by a single vote. The budget deficit in fiscal year (FY) 1995 was $164 billion. It is now $38.7 trillion. On February 11, 2026, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its budget outlook for […]
Congress continues to untangle the Minnesota fraud scandal, which was first flagged in Congress by Rep. Jason Lewis (R-Minn.) in 2018 and then repeatedly brought up by whistleblowers. There have been three hearings on Capitol Hill since the beginning of the second session of the 119th Congress exposing how Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and […]
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), which extended and enhanced the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, included other significant benefits to taxpayers, including the termination of a disastrous software program at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Citizens Against Government Waste raised the alarm for many years over the idea of allowing the IRS […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should review and reconsider the ongoing cases that began during the Biden administration under Chair Lina Khan. Her approach to antitrust law, along with her anti-capitalist and anti-business policies led to her being named Citizens Against Government Waste’s September 2023 and November 2024 Porker of the Month. The legal quagmire […]
The debate over raising the federally insured deposit limit has been heating up following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, even though doing so would increase risk and moral hazard, and the banks’ demise was unrelated to the insurance cap. The Federal Reserve’s April 28, 2023, review of its supervision of Silicon […]
Following the Biden administration’s multi-trillion spending spree, which has pushed the national debt to $36.9 trillion, the government must tighten its belt and cut costs. After the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and it moved to the Senate, President Trump took the next step in his efforts to cut waste, fraud, and […]
Welcome to This Week in Waste, a series by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) that highlights how taxpayer dollars are being wasted in the federal, state, and local levels of government, and efforts to fight back against this spendthrift behavior. President Trump’s Budget Proposal Cuts Hundreds of Billions in Spending President Trump sent his […]
The Trump administration has been moving headlong into reducing the regulatory burden on industries that are trying to invest and build in America. After President Trump released two Executive Orders (EO) on eliminating regulations, federal agencies are taking note and moving forward. Congress is also considering legislation to increase its role in reviewing regulations. Federal […]
Mike Leavitt’s got a ticket to ride, and he don’t care. The Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary used a luxury private jet, leased by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention for use only in emergencies, to rack up $720,000, or 60 percent, of the $2.1 million the jet has cost taxpayers since January.
The federal government’s continuing prosecution of medical marijuana patients undermines federalism and fiscal restraint. For the fourth year in a row, the House will vote on an amendment sponsored by Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). The amendment would prohibit the federal government from arresting users of medical marijuana in states where it has been deemed legal. The amendment does not prevent the Justice Department from prosecuting individuals using marijuana for a recreational purpose or individuals using marijuana for medicinal purposes in states where it is still considered illegal.
