This Week In Waste – August 21, 2026
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.
CAGW Names Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson August 2026 Porker of the Month
Citizens Against Government Waste named socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson (D) its August 2026 Porker of the Month for proposing a tax hike and free buses instead of fixing Seattle’s high-cost transit system. Seattle residents already face one of the highest combined state and local sales tax rates in the nation. Rather than addressing the inefficiencies that have driven transit construction and operating costs even higher, Mayor Wilson has proposed taxpayers pay even more by doubling the transit tax for free buses and other projects. Read more here.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Is Proving to Be a Fiscal Success
According to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) July 2026 Monthly Budget Review (MBR), non-tariff federal revenues, including income and payroll taxes, are projected to increase by $50 billion compared to its February 2026 MBR estimate. According to House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), “Republicans’ pro-growth tax policies continue to generate more revenue than CBO anticipated, while low- and middle-income Americans are receiving record tax refunds.” Read more here.
Cox-Charter Merger Leaps Over Final Hurdle
The proposed $34.5 billion merger between Cox Communications and Charter Communications received the last approval it needed on August 12, 2026, from the California Public Utilities Commission. The commission included several conditions, including major infrastructure investments, customer protections, and Lifeline service tier offerings. The merger will enhance customer experience by combining the resources of the two companies to accelerate high-speed network upgrades and deployments, and effectively and efficiently connect businesses and households. Read more here.
National Debt Tops $40 Trillion After Doubling in Less than a Decade, Treasury Data Shows
On August 19, 2026, the national debt surpassed $40 trillion, doubling from approximately $20 trillion in 2017. Interest on the debt is higher than every spending category except Social Security and Medicare and will surpass $1 trillion in 2026. The best path to reducing the debt is to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement throughout the federal government. Read more here.
Why the DSA’s Medicare-for-All Dream Threatens Us with a Real-Life Nightmare
Medicare for All pushed by Democratic Socialists of America candidates would cost $32 trillion over 10 years and be disastrous for businesses and families by effectively eliminating private insurance, creating massive delays in care, and handing control over healthcare to federal bureaucrats. Read more here.
Other Countries Have Extracted $21.7 Billion (and Counting) From US Tech Firms
An August 17, 2027 update to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation foreign fines tracker revealed that, as of July 2026, foreign governments, primarily in Europe, have imposed $21.7 billion in fines on American technology companies using “discriminatory regulations and targeted enforcement actions … designed to constrain U.S. firms, extract resources from them, and erode their competitive advantage.” The fines redirect capital from research and development and make it more difficult to maintain U.S. global leadership in innovative technology. Read more here.
