(Washington, D.C.) – Today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released its WasteWatcher, a monthly dispatch to members of the news media, highlighting some of the most prominent fiscal issues affecting American taxpayers.  The stories from February’s WasteWatcher edition are listed in part as follows:

Farm Bill Grows Wealth of Narrow Agriculture Interests
By PJ Austin

On February 3, 2014, the Senate followed the House’s lead and voted 72-22 in favor of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2642, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, more commonly known as the Farm Bill.  Read the full story here.

More Problems with Medicaid Expansion
By Elizabeth Wright

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, the Medicaid program was expanded to include individuals making incomes up to an effective 138 percent of the federal poverty level.  Read the full story here.

Defense Bill: Good, Bad, and Ugly
By Sean Kennedy

As taxpayers peruse the Department of Defense (DOD) section of the monolithic Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (H.R. 3547) that funds the federal government through fiscal year (FY) 2014, they will find mixed blessings.  Read the full story here.

Obama’s 2014 SOTU: Epic Fail
By Alexandra Booze

In his fifth State of the Union address (SOTU) delivered to Congress on January 28, 2014, President Obama failed to utter a single word regarding government waste or the growing national debt.  Read the full story here.

The Great GATB
By William Christian 

Spoiler Alert!  In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is ultimately gunned down in a case of mistaken identity.  Read the full story here.

Cloud First:  Three Years Later
By Deb Collier

In December 2010, the Obama administration announced its 25-Point Plan to reform federal information technology (IT) management (the 25-Point Plan).  As part of the plan, agencies were to implement a “cloud first” strategy when purchasing new IT systems and programs.  Read the full story here.

CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.