“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 […]
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.
Problem Identified, Solution Needed
“The problem isn’t that we don’t know what the problem is, the problem is that we [members of Congress] don’t act,” Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) stated in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on January 9, 2014. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz echoed Sen. Coburn’s comments in his testimony […]
Medicaid Expansion – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
CAGW is against the expansion of Medicaid. It is a terrible healthcare system that is paid for by taxpayers and consumes on average 24 percent of a state’s budget. The Congressional Budget Office predicts Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, will grow 8 percent and cost taxpayers approximately $554 billion […]
A Picture of Real FCC Reform
Even in successful industries such as communications, the government’s regulatory burdens have an adverse impact on innovation and growth. The cost of compliance is high and often passed along to consumers in the form of fees and additional taxes. On December 3, 2013, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) announced that 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 […]
Transparency Bills for Obamacare
Today, the House passed H.R 3811, the “Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act.” The bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to notify Americans within two days of learning that personally identifiable information has been compromised or breached on the Healthcare.gov website. It passed by a vote of 291 to 122, […]
2014 — Now We Get to Find Out What is in Obamacare!
Happy New Year! CAGW is pleased to announce that it will reconstitute its Healthcare and Science Division. Why you ask? The October 1, 2013 roll-out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, and the following chaos demonstrated the need for CAGW to increase its focus on health policy. I’ll be heading up […]
Obamacare Has Taken a Lickin…And It Still Isn’t Tickin
Well, now that January 1 has come and gone many of us get to experience the joys of government-controlled health insurance, better known as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. (Yes they ARE the same thing. There have been polls, which indicate people believe they are two different laws.) Three interesting stories popped up within […]
TV Viewing for the Next Generation
Today’s TV viewing options are much different than when Congress passed the Cable Act of 1992. This Act was passed in response to cable television rate increases following deregulation, a lack of competition in the cable marketplace and the concern of broadcasters that their local stations would not be carried by cable companies. The law […]