Federal programs administered by state and local governments distribute an estimated $1.2 trillion annually. An August 7, 2026, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found significant fraud risks in the 20 largest of these programs. The report was a revision to GAO’s July 23, 2026, report. The 20 federal programs constituted 9.8 percent of the 203 […]
Funding is heading to the states from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The expeditious and efficient use of these funds to connect unserved and underserved areas of the country depends on state and local governments ensuring that the permitting process does not impede or […]
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. Celebrating Small Businesses During the National Small Business Week As the nation’s 250th birthday is being […]
The Missouri General Assembly has taken a crucial step in the process to amend the Missouri Constitution by phasing out the state income tax and increasing the sales tax. On April 21, 2026, the Missouri House of Representative passed HJR 173 by a vote of 95 to 59. The process in the House started with […]
Kids in the lower-income households of Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas may find their Easter baskets a little less sweet this year. Across the country, state policymakers are pushing legislation requesting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to restrict what Americans receiving federal food assistance can buy with their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program […]
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 […]
Missouri is moving ahead with the process of eliminating the state income tax. In his January 13, 2026, State of the State Address, Governor Mike Kehoe (R) called for the income tax to be eliminated over five years. The process would require the approval of voters in the November 2026 election. On January 28, 2026, […]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) deadline for final proposals for the $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) is September 3, 2025. Funding is supposed to be distributed by December 31, 2025. Like other broadband programs, BEAD projects must go through a state and local permitting process, which should expedite rather […]
States across the country are working to finalize their final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the September 4, 2025, deadline. The state of Louisiana is leading the charge to close the digital divide as the first state in the nation to release its final draft […]
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 […]
