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 Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) August 2025 Porker of the Month CAGW named Sen. Susan […]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) deadline for final proposals for the $42.45 billion in Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) is September 3, 2025. Funding is supposed to be distributed by December 31, 2025. Like other broadband programs, BEAD projects must go through a state and local permitting process, which should expedite rather […]
Improper payments have long been an avoidable drain on the federal budget and are often prominently featured as an example of wasteful spending. It is therefore not surprising that in the August 12, 2025, Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated report on open recommendations to improve government operations, reducing fraud and improper payments was first on […]
States across the country are working to finalize their final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the September 4, 2025, deadline. The state of Louisiana is leading the charge to close the digital divide as the first state in the nation to release its final draft […]
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. Universal Service Fund Remains Ripe for Reform The Universal Service Fund (USF) remains outdated, wasteful, and […]
Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted into law, household broadband users in the United States have increased from 50 percent to 96 percent. The Act established the Universal Service Fund (USF), which includes the Lifeline, High-Cost, Rural Healthcare, and E-Rate programs, to help increase access to broadband. The Act also gave the Universal […]
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. GAO Reconfirms Federal IT Must Be Modernized The federal government spends more than $100 billion each […]
The 340B Drug Discount Program was created in 1992 to help federally funded clinics and public hospitals that serve a large uninsured population cover the cost of drugs and provide discounts to patients. But the lack of guardrails on the program and failure to define a patient has led to it being abused by hospitals […]
The federal government annually spends more than $100 billion for information technology (IT), 80 percent of which is used to operate and maintain existing systems, some of which are more than 50 years old. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) first placed IT modernization on its High Risk List in 2015, and Citizens Against Government Waste […]
The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program was intended to provide discounts on drugs to patients but the lack of a clear intent and patient definition, along with inadequate oversight, has led to the program being exploited by hospitals and contract pharmacies to generate millions of dollars in profit. The discounts are supposed to be provided […]
