Improper payments have long been an avoidable drain on the federal budget and are often prominently featured as an example of wasteful spending. It is therefore not surprising that in the August 12, 2025, Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated report on open recommendations to improve government operations, reducing fraud and improper payments was first on […]
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 Department of Defense (DOD) has far from a sterling reputation for financial discipline. It remains the sole federal agency to have not passed a clean audit under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990. The Marine Corps is the only one of the five DOD branches that has passed an audit, which it accomplished […]
2023 saw Council for Citizens Against Government Waste secure another round of legislative wins in Congress and the states
Congress and executive branch agencies should continue to get as many answers and money as possible.
Local governments continue to spend left-over “fiscal recovery” funds on wish list projects with no accountability from Congress.
The government’s failure to distribute relief money correctly continues to be unearthed.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently exposed vulnerabilities that end up costing taxpayers hundreds of billions in wasteful spending due to erroneous and sloppy billing, and outright fraud. The OIG’s October 7, 2016 report documented that even though The Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization […]
