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. Trump Administration Cancels Green New Deal Loans After conducting a first-year review of the Department of […]
On December 23, 2025, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released his annual Festivus report, which cites a total of $1.6 trillion in unnecessary federal spending, including $1.22 trillion in interest payments on the national debt. The report cites $77 million for Department of Defense (DOD)’s outdated Marine Mammal Program, which trains dolphins and sea lions to […]
Longtime readers of the WasteWatcher will be familiar with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), a poorly designed vessel that has long dogged Pentagon planners while burning taxpayer cash. Unfortunately, two recent examples have demonstrated that the Department of Defense (DOD) has learned nothing from that boondoggle and continues to struggle to build new ships on […]
As Americans gather with family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, healthcare costs are one of their main concerns. President Trump has made lowering drug prices and increasing domestic biopharmaceutical research and development high priorities in his second term in office. Domestic investment by drug companies has skyrocketed since Eli Lilly was the first company to […]
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 […]
Since it was approved by Golden State voters in the 2008 Proposition 1A bond measure, the California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) project, which was intended to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles by passenger rail, has shoveled more than $111 billion into the furnace of government waste. The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) was tasked […]
