When Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, it established a topline discretionary spending budget, formally known as the 302(a) allocation, for fiscal years (FY) 2014 and 2015. Although there were several negative aspects of the budget compromise, many of which Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) pointed out to members of Congress before they voted on the bill, one of the positive aspects was that it marked the first time since April 29, 2009 that Congress had passed a budget and set the stage for a return to regular order. Unfortunately, as Congress prepares to embark on a five-week legislative recess, it is certain that a normal budget process will not occur this year.
Definitely Not a Free Lunch
In fiscal year (FY) 2012, 30.7 million out of 50 million, or 61 percent, of U.S. students enrolled in public and non-profit private schools participated in both the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP), federally assisted meal programs funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service. Unfortunately, a June 15, 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that when it comes to certifying beneficiaries for the NSLP, the federal government’s eyes are certainly bigger than its stomach.
The Cost of Free
Clay County, Missouri Police Captain Matt Hunter described his department’s new acquisition, a 54,000-pound, 10-foot tall vehicle known as a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP), as a “$750,000 machine that we got for absolutely nothing…taxpayers didn’t have to pay anything for it.”
Don’t Know Much About Algebra
Paul Krawzak wrote in the June 4 Roll Call about some disturbing news that came from an April Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare.) Said Krawzak, “In a little-noticed footnote to a report issued in April, ‘Updated Estimates of the Effects of the Insurance Coverage Provisions of the Affordable Care […]
GAO Report Shows Duplicative Spending on Software Licenses
Federal agencies are missing opportunities to save money in their software license purchases, according to a May 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been following this issue for some time, including a May 10, 2013 briefing on Capitol Hill highlighting the problems with software asset management in the federal government.
ARC Gets Earmark Boost
Those pork-barrel spenders are at it again. This time, they increased the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) by 23 percent, from $64.6 million to $80 million, in H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was signed into law on January 17, 2014.
Declaration of Dependence
A February 4, 2013 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report confirmed what taxpayer watchdog groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) have been warning about for years: Obamacare is an unprecedented disaster for every American’s personal health and the country’s economic health. CBO reported that 2.5 million people, a historically high number, will leave the […]
Put the Taxpayers’ Money and the Unemployed to Work
After emergency unemployment insurance benefits expired for more than 1.3 million Americans on December 28, 2013, President Obama vowed to make the issue a top priority in the New Year. On January 6, 2014, the Senate voted 60-37 in favor of S. 1845, which would extend the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program despite the effort […]
The Good, the Bad, and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013
On December 26, 2013, President Obama signed H. J. Res. 59, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which sets a two-year budget for fiscal year (FY) 2014 and FY 2015. Although H.J. Res. 59 included some positive provisions, on the whole, it is an ugly deal for taxpayers.
What’s the Word? WRDA!
“WRDA,” a legislative acronym pronounced “word-uh” in Beltway speak and not to be confused with Cameo’s 1986 hip-hop hit, “Word Up,” refers to the Water Resources Development Act, the authorization of water-related infrastructure projects, including dams, locks, and other navigational and flood control projects pertaining to the nation’s inland waterways. The last WRDA bill to […]