Got Waste?
Press Release
For Immediate Release | Contact: Leslie K. Paige |
February 2, 1999 |
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been the leading source of information on federal spending issues since its founding in 1984. With a membership base of well over 600,000 taxpayers, CAGW is also a major source of organizational strength in the war against government waste and pork-barrel spending.
With this in mind, I want to invite you to make use of our organizational, investigative, and public relations resources in your own legislative efforts. A big part of our success comes through tips – often anonymous – from Capitol Hill sources who share our desire to expose wasteful spending before it passes through the legislative process. As congressional staffers, you know better than anyone how much pork is getting into legislation these days.
CAGW wants to help you get the word out. Our member surveys indicate that pork-barrel spending is causing bigger public relations problems for Congress than the impeachment process. If the public doesn’t know who is responsible for this wasteful spending, Members like yours get the blame at the ballot box.
Here are just a few examples of waste, fraud, and abuse that CAGW exposed last year with the help of our friends on Capitol Hill:
- During debate over the $218.3 billion TEA-21 transportation authorization bill, Hill sources informed CAGW that more than one-quarter (27.2 percent) of all money set aside for demo projects in the 1991 ISTEA authorization bill was left unspent.
- Congressional staff tipped us off to the loss of more than $30 million through gross congressional mismanagement of the U.S. Mint’s commemorative coin program.
- Hill sources gave us a sneak peek at the first-ever audit of the federal government – a report which revealed the loss of a $1 million surface-to-air missile, two harbor tugs worth $875,000 apiece, and 15 jets engines, including 2 worth $4 million each.
Americans have a right to know when their money is being misspent by Congress. I hope that the next time you read a bill or amendment chock full of wasteful spending, you will contact us here at CAGW. We are looking forward to working with you.