The WasteWatcher

Pennsylvania Piglet Book Reaps Savings
Pennsylvania is a study in contrasts. The state boasts some of the most scenic highways and byways in the nation yet the roads are punctured with countless potholes. At one end of the state there is Pittsburgh, with a winning football tradition...

Federal Property: Wretched Excess
The United States government is seriously overdue for a garage sale. While the government is projecting a $205 billion budget deficit for Fiscal 2007 and splurging on tens of billions of dollars in wasteful programs and congressional pork-barrel...

‘F’ is for Farm Subsidy
In anticipation in the next few weeks of markup of Title I farm subsidy programs in the House Agriculture Committee, CAGW released Making the Grade: CAGW’s Report Card on Farm Bill “Reform” Proposals.

Taxpayers 1, Rep. Obey 0
When House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) announced his plans to wait until closed-door conference committee meetings between the House and Senate to insert earmarks into spending bills, he declared, “I don’t give a damn if...

Tidbits
Congressman Kanjorski (D-Pa.) joins a mushrooming list of members of Congress whose earmarking habits are getting a lot of media attention. Over an eight-year period, Rep. Kanjorski steered $10 million in earmarked federal funding (from the Energy...

Murtha Intel Earmark Dispute
Representative John ‘Jack’ Murtha (D-Pa.) has long been known inside the beltway for using threats, power plays, and backroom deals to control spending decisions. Now the American public has been treated to a view of the congressman’s strong-arm...

Real ID Nightmare
George Orwell’s 1984 provided a chilling look into a future of a Big Brother government obsessed with control and surveillance of the populace. Even though he brilliantly chronicled the trials and tribulations of Winston Smith, Orwell left out one...

Michigan’s Bold iPod Plan
Michigan’s budget deficit recently surpassed the $1 billion dollar mark. With tax revenues being steady, the only conceivable reason for the budget deficit is out-of-control spending. On April 5, Michigan House Democrats issued an education plan...

Budget Showdown in Georgia
Unless they get their act together, House Republicans in Georgia could lose their power just as fast as they acquired it. After 130 years of Democratic dominance in the state legislature, a Republican majority was elected in 2006, but the members...

Rep. Boyda Imprisons Taxpayer Money for Museum
Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kansas) deserves to “do some time” for her theft from the taxpayers of $100,000 for an egregious earmark she added to the 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act. The Kansas Regional Prisons...

Solar Wall Symbolizes Failed Energy Policies
Congress and President Bush may revive a plan to build a giant solar panel system on the headquarters of the Department of Energy (DoE). Intended to symbolize the government’s commitment to clean energy, the so-called “sun wall” instead shines a...

Deval Patrick's Pork-Barrel Politics
When Governor Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) campaigned for the office, he pledged to change Beacon Hill’s “politics as usual.” Unfortunately for the taxpayers of Massachusetts, his three month term has been anything but.