Individuals who are not on Social Security at age 65 are supposed to sign up for Medicare anytime between three months before their 65th birthday and three months thereafter. I turn 65 on January 9, 2018, and thought I should get an early start by checking everything out exactly three months before that date. After […]
Are You Ready for Some Legalized Sports Betting?
If you were ready for some football, then the National Football League’s 2017 season opener on Thursday, September 7, provided quite a tasty first course: The Kansas City Chiefs upset the favored New England Patriots by a final score of 42-27, well outside the 8-point spread that bookmakers offered on the game. Bettors supporting the […]
Confirmation Congestion: 124 Down, More Than 1,000 to Go
President Donald Trump has the authority to fill more than 4,000 executive positions, of which 1,212 require Senate confirmation. According to a joint study by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, as of August 22, 2017, the Senate has confirmed 124 Trump nominees, with 277 nominations pending. By comparison, President George W. Bush had 294 confirmations, with 414 pending nominations by August 22, 2001; while President Obama reached 310 confirmations and 433 pending nominations by August 22, 2009. The confirmation of less than half the number of Bush and Obama nominees has hindered the advancement of President Trump’s agenda.
The Can-Kicking Congress: Business as Usual
In political patois, “kicking the can down the road” connotes procrastination. As long as the proverbial can is kicked “down the road,” rather than picked up, then the proper disposition of the derelict container is put off until some future point in time. And much like the (equally proverbial) kicker’s aversion to taking definitive action on a relatively straightforward task, the U.S. Congress is composed of 535 “can kickers,” given their predilection to avoid taking action until the last possible minute. On Tuesday, September 5, 2017, when the current Congress reconvenes after its annual August recess, it will have less than a month to complete several “must pass” items.
The Cuba Embargo: A Personal Observation
In June, 2017, representatives from a handful of right-leaning organizations, including Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), participated in a “people-to-people” delegation to Cuba. The “educational outreach” trip was arranged by Engage Cuba, “the leading coalition of private companies and organizations working to end the travel and trade embargo on Cuba,” in conjunction with Cuba Educational Travel (CET). Based in Naragansett, Rhode Island, CET is the tour facilitator that has been awarded the necessary licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control “to organize trips to Cuba in full compliance with rules and regulations governing travel to Cuba by individuals under U.S. jurisdiction.”
A Day of Uniform, Uninformed Activity
The “net neutrality” proponents are at it again, plotting to slog up the internet with a “Day of Action” on July 12, 2017. Similar activity occurred in 2012 in response to legislation regarding online piracy. Since that legislation was abandoned by Congress, these same agitators believe they will have success in shutting down the Restoring Internet Freedom Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (WC Docket No. 17-108) currently in process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by inundating the agency and Congress with a high volume of comments against the proposed rule.
Waste in the State Department
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has detailed the federal government’s failure to keep up with modernizing technology for decades. As far back as 1984, the Grace Commission found that the federal government’s computer systems were outdated and incompatible, and much more needed to be done to upgrade and improve the efficiency of federal information technology (IT). Yet, federal agencies continue to waste taxpayer dollars on IT systems that are either antiquated or fail to deliver.
This is Not What I Meant by Revamp
In April 2017, CAGW published an article I wrote regarding FedRAMP, and efforts to modernize and streamline the process. Part the effort was the proposed implementation of a FedRAMP Tailored process for low-impact systems.
Congressional Appropriators: Rating the “Third Party”
A practical reality of life on Capitol Hill can be summed up with a saying often attributed to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). In his book, Worth the Fighting for, Sen. McCain writes that, “there are, it is often observed, three parties in Congress, Republicans, Democrats, and appropriators.” Further explained by Barry Popik, a contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary (among others), the saying “means that ‘pork barrel’ spending is nonpartisan.”
GAO Duplication Report Should Guide Trump
Early in his presidency, Donald Trump has demonstrated through words and deeds a commitment to reforming and reorganizing the federal bureaucracy, including the elimination of waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will make that job a little easier.