Today’s meeting of the White House Office of American Innovation is being attended by 18 private sector technology experts, including the CEOs of some of the most innovative and successful companies in U.S. history. Their expertise is welcome and necessary.
Making Unauthorized Spending Wrong Again
As President Donald J. Trump continues his campaign to “Make America Great Again,” Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) will borrow on that theme, as described in the title of this article, by continuing to advocate for reforms of the way that Congress does business. One of the best efforts in this regard is H.R. 2174, Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ (R-Wash.) Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act, which she introduced on April 26, 2017.
Safeguarding Infrastructure Investment
As a candidate, President Trump pledged to invest in upgrading the country’s infrastructure. While there is no formal plan to date from the White House, President Trump stated on May 1, 2017, that “If you have a job that you can’t start within 90 days, we’re not going to give you the money for it because it doesn’t help. … We’re going to be very strong on that. They have to be able to start within 90 days.”
Another Tool to Modernize Federal IT
The federal government spends more than $80 billion annually on information technology (IT), with more than 75 percent of this spending used on operations and maintenance of existing legacy IT systems. On May 17, 2017, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2227, the Modernizing Government Technology Act of 2017 (MGT Act).
Income Share Agreements: Venture Capital for College Students
To get the gist of an “income share agreement” (ISA), look no further than the title of Kim Clark’s November 16, 2016 article in Money magazine: “Now You Can Sell Shares in Yourself to Pay for College.”
Waste Abounds in the Land of the Midnight Sun
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a hearing to consider the construction of a road linking the town of King Cove to Cold Bay, and the latter’s all-weather airport. At issue is H.R. 218, introduced by Federal Lands Subcommittee member Don Young (R-Alaska) in January 2017, which […]
CFP-Bane: Warding Off the Unconstitutional CFPB
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been, since its inception as the brainchild of then-Harvard professor and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the nanny state bane of conservatives and free-market champions.
To Kill or Not to Kill Quill
In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled in Quill v. North Dakota that if a company did not have a “physical nexus” within the state, that state could not require the company to collect sales taxes from its customers. However, residents of states with income taxes are supposed to voluntarily pay a “use tax” on such out-of-state transactions when they file their tax returns. As the number of online transactions continue to grow, there has been an ongoing debate over “bricks and mortar” sellers versus internet sellers, and many states are seeking “lost” sales tax revenue from these online activities.
Flake, et al. to POTUS: Veto Earmarks!
On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at a time when the U.S. House of Representatives is contemplating a return to the “insidious” practice of “earmarking,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), joined by a handful of his colleagues, wrote to President Donald J. Trump urging the nation’s chief executive to veto any legislation that includes earmarks. According […]
Pentagon Obscures Cost Growth of “Little Crappy Ship”
According to a March 2017 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review, which is charged with reviewing information to be released to the public, blocked awkward information regarding cost growth in a historically wasteful program. The GAO was forced to delete cost increases of two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) […]