The U.S. Postal Service will be delivering its fiscal year (FY) 2025 results soon after Halloween. It will leave a sour taste that will be like getting only Sour Patch Kids, Sour Gummy Worms, and Sweetarts in the bag during trick or treat. The results will not only continue the frightful losses that have happened […]
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. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Hearing is Next Step for 340B Reform The […]
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 […]
The establishment of well-intentioned programs that fail to achieve their objectives and waste taxpayer dollars is an unfortunately frequent occurrence in the federal government. A prominent example of such an outcome is the 340B program, created by Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act of 1992, which requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in Medicaid to […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to forge ahead with eliminating outdated regulations and streamlining processes that will make it easier and faster to enable new telecommunications and network capabilities. The September 30, 2025, monthly meeting included several items that will help achieve those objectives, some of which were included in Citizens Against Government Waste’s […]
The 340B Drug Discount Program was created in 1992 and requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in Medicaid to sell drugs to “Covered Entities” (CEs), including non-profit hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic, at discounts of 20 to 50 percent. The program grew from $9 billion in 2014 to $66 billion in 2023, making it the second-largest federal […]
Federal healthcare programs are often well-intended but end up costing more than expected and become subject to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. One of the best (or worst) examples of such a result is the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The lack of clear intent […]
On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order establishing of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As of July 26, 2025, DOGE estimated that its actions and recommendations, including the cancellation of contracts and grants, asset sales, and workforce reductions, if fully implemented, would save $199 billion, or $1,236 per taxpayer. […]
The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program was intended to provide discounts on drugs to patients but the lack of a clear intent and patient definition, along with inadequate oversight, has led to the program being exploited by hospitals and contract pharmacies to generate millions of dollars in profit. The discounts are supposed to be provided […]
The Trump administration has made improving efficiency and cutting waste across the federal government a top priority. On March 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14240 on Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement. The order’s goal is to consolidate $400 billion of domestic “federal procurement for common goods and […]
