This Week in Waste – May 9, 2025
This Week in Waste – May 9, 2025
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 Files Comments to Department of Commerce Opposing Tariffs on Pharmaceutical Imports
On May 6, 2025, CAGW filed comments with the Department of Commerce opposing efforts to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports of pharmaceutical drugs and drug ingredients. Tariffs on pharmaceutical imports would raise prices for patients, lead to job losses, raise production costs on American pharmaceutical manufacturers, and reduce access to cures and treatments.
Price Controls on Medicaid Would Be Disastrous and Fail to Cut Spending
Using a most-favored nation policy to find “savings” for reconciliation would have adverse consequences and fail to address longstanding problems with Medicaid. Read more here.
Government-Owned Networks Are Still a Bad Idea
Government-owned networks should be gone because they are expensive to build, maintain, and operate, and crowd out private investment. Read more here.
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Urges House of Representatives to Eliminate Funding for Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging Congress to oppose mandatory demonstration projects for Medicare and Medicaid by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and support eliminating funding for CMMI. Mandatory CMMI demonstration projects would further entrench CMMI in the Department of Health and Human Services and could include most favored nation drug price controls, which would stifle innovation and increase costs in the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Eliminating CMMI would save taxpayers $10 billion over 10 years.
GAO: Pentagon at High Risk for Fraud
The Government Accountability Office has found that the Department of Defense is at high risk of fraud. With a looming budget increase, the Pentagon must be held financially accountable. Read more here.
