This Week In Waste – August 28, 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.
Closing the Digital Divide Once and for All: NTIA Announces All 56 BEAD Final Proposals Now Approved
On August 25, 2026, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Arielle Roth announced that NTIA has approved Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding for Illinois. This is the final application approval giving all 56 U.S. states and territories funding to deploy broadband to unserved and underserved communities. Read more here.
Maryland’s Digital Ad Tax Is Overturned
On August 14, 2026, the Maryland Tax Court considered three cases related to the 2021 Maryland Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax, which imposed a tax on annual gross revenues from digital ads in Maryland. The court found that the tax violated the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act’s prohibition on discriminatory taxes, the fair apportionment requirement under the Commerce Clause, and the prohibition against discriminatory taxes under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. Read more here.
Research Shows E-Cigarettes Should Be Included in Options to Help Smokers Quit
A July 30, 2026, Journal of the American Medical Association article should lead to wider acceptance and availability of e-cigarettes by encouraging clinicians to include them in their recommendations to patients who want to quit smoking. E-cigarettes are a well-established tobacco harm reduction alternative for smokers looking to transition away from cigarettes. Read more here.
The Technology Modernization Fund Should Be Reauthorized
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 established the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to help federal agencies modernize their information technology (IT) systems and address urgent IT needs. A July 23, 2026, GAO report found that as of June 2025, 24 TMF projects were expected to save a total of $1.06 billion. Read more here.
Department of Justice Announces Launch of National Fraud Detection Center to Combat Fraud Against Taxpayer-Funded Programs
On August 24, 2026, the Department of Justice launched the National Fraud Detection Center (NFDC) to improve the detection of fraud by creating a whole-of-government approach and enhancing collaboration across federal agencies. The NFDC’s initial members are the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and the Offices of Inspectors General for 12 federal agencies. Read more here.
Plans to Move FBI Headquarters to Reagan Building Blocked by Federal Judge
On August 18, 2026, Federal Maryland District Judge Theodore D. Chuang blocked the relocation of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) out of the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building to the half-empty Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, which opened in 1998. Judge Chuang ruled that the General Services Administration (GSA) failed to select from the list of sites approved by Congress, which may now force the GSA to return to its original plan to build a new FBI headquarters from scratch in Greenbelt, Maryland. The total cost of retrofitting the Reagan building is estimated to be $1.4 billion, while building a new headquarters in Maryland would cost taxpayers between $3 and $4.5 billion. Read more here.
