This Week In Waste – September 25, 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 Bernie Sanders Its August 2026 Porker of the Month
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) its September 2026 Porker of the Month for introducing legislation that would ban superintelligence and freeze all other American artificial intelligence development until a new federal agency is created to control every aspect of the industry. Standing up a new cabinet-level agency will take Congress years if not decades to accomplish, leaving innovators waiting indefinitely before development could resume, and allowing the rest of the world to rush past the U.S. in AI development. Read more here.
Sub Maintenance Limitations Drive Costs, Delays
An August 27, 2026, Government Accountability Office report described the impact of the lack of maintenance capacity at Naval shipyards, and the host of knock-on effects on the service’s submarine fleet. The delays drive up costs by preventing rapid redeployment and timely recommissioning. Without course correction, these problems will expand in the future. Read more here.
Investment Reduces the Number of Eligible BEAD Locations
A September 9, 2026, BroadbandExpanded blog post published by the Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute of the New York Law School found that the number of eligible locations for BEAD funding fell by 69 percent since it was originally allocated due to both private sector investment and other federal broadband programs. Read more here.
Florida Local Officials: GON Fishin’
An August 31, 2026, James Madison Institute policy brief outlined how municipal broadband projects crowd out private sector investment and leave local taxpayers footing the bill. Government-owned networks litter the country with financial distress and bailouts, forcing cities to sell assets at a fraction of their original cost, with taxpayers holding the remaining bill. Read more here.
Less than 40 percent of EV school buses purchased with Biden-era EPA grants have been delivered
On September 24, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency found that less than 40 percent of the electric school buses purchased under the Biden-era Clean School Bus Program have been delivered, despite the contractors already receiving $2.7 billion, or 54 percent of the allocated $5 billion, in taxpayer funding. Only 1,100 of the 2,600 buses ordered have arrived, 854 are behind schedule, and 140 will never be delivered, since one contractor went bankrupt after receiving $160 million from the Biden administration. Read more here.
Conflicting CMS Guidance and Federal Statutory Requirements Cost Medicare $380 Million Over a 6-Year Period for Organs Not Transplanted into Medicare Enrollees
A September 2026 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Inspector General audit found that conflicting agency guidance and federal requirements led to Medicare paying about $380 million over six years for organs that were not used for Medicare-covered transplants. Read more here.
Vance’s anti-fraud task force to remove 750,000 allegedly fraudulent enrollments from Obamacare
The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud says it has identified 750,000 people who were allegedly fraudulently enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, with another 419,000 undergoing additional review. Vice President JD Vance estimates that removing ineligible or fraudulent ACA enrollees will save taxpayers $2.2 billion. Read more here.
