The WasteWatcher

The WasteWatcher is the staff blog of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW). For questions, contact blog@cagw.org.

Time to Move Forward on a National Privacy Framework is Now

July 24, 2019 - 11:44 — Deborah Collier

I was recently given a new watch by my husband. He was excited about the watch because of all the great things it was going to do for me. Even though I work on technology issues, the only real purpose of a watch in my mind is to tell time. This is where I ran into trouble.

This watch is what is known as a connected device. It will tell me when I have a text message or phone call coming in and will monitor my heart rate and count how many steps I take in a day. What it won’t do until I connect it to my smart phone is tell me what time it is, and therein lies the problem.

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Colorado and California Take Action to Lower Obamacare Premiums

July 23, 2019 - 17:47 — Elizabeth Wright

A July 23, 2019 Inside Health Policy healthcare column discusses predictions made by Colorado and California state officials on the cost of their insurance premiums in 2020 due to actions they took to make the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, more affordable. Colorado applied for a 1332 state innovation waiver that would allow them to set up a re

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CCAGW Urges Members of Congress to Oppose Disastrous Budget Deal

July 23, 2019 - 13:19 — Allen Johnson

House Democrats and the President have reached a deal that would raise discretionary spending caps by $320 billion over the next two years with less than a quarter in offsets. This agreement totally abandons the government’s fiscal responsibility.

Today, CCAGW president Tom Schatz urged the Congress to reject the deal.

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Republican Study Committee Stands Firm on Budget Negotiations

July 22, 2019 - 15:46 — Allen Johnson

Concerns are rising in Washington regarding the status of an agreement between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and the White House to raise the discretionary spending caps imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. If nothing is done, the government will run out of funding and have to shut down on October 1, 2019. The current budget caps will expire at that time and the sequestration process will automatically trigger around $120 billion in across-the-board cuts to domestic and military spending.

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Socialist Drug Price Controls Should be Rejected

July 19, 2019 - 13:00 — Elizabeth Wright

It has been often said that in Washington, D.C. bad news comes out on a Friday afternoon and today, July 19, 2019, is no exception

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Ohio Senate to Vote on Nuclear Bailout

July 17, 2019 - 15:34 — Allen Johnson

FirstEnergy Solutions’ (FES) nuclear power plant in Akron, Ohio needs a taxpayer funded bailout according to the company.

It is hoping that the Ohio Senate will pass a bill similar to the recently passed House bailout bill, HB 6. The bill has been amended by the Senate and would give FES $150 million annually in subsidies. This is outrageous.

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V.P. Biden's Plan is Really a Side Door to Medicare for All

July 15, 2019 - 17:29 — Elizabeth Wright

Today, former Vice President and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden offered his healthcare plan, the “Affordable Care Act 2.0.” It would keep and build on Obamacare and provide a public option or mechanism for people to buy into a government-run plan.

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Excessive Cable Franchise Fees to be Scaled Back

July 15, 2019 - 14:45 — Deborah Collier

In August 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will take a strong step to modernize rules relating to how local franchise authorities will be permitted to regulate cable operators.

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The Multiemployer Pensions Crisis Needs Reform, Not a Bailout

July 12, 2019 - 12:14 — Peter Klensch

A billion-dollar taxpayer bailout of failing multiemployer pensions is on the horizon.

Ten years ago, subprime mortgages went from being a little-known form of lending to the precipitating factor in the international banking crisis that led to the Great Recession. Multiemployer pensions, which have been allowed to systematically underfund plans and make unrealistic assumptions on return rates, now have the potential to cause a similar economic crisis and necessitate another taxpayer bailout.

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Proceed with Caution on JEDI Procurement

July 12, 2019 - 11:41 — Thomas Schatz

The decision announced today in favor of the Department of Defense (DOD) in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims case challenging the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract likely means that it will be awarded shortly to a single vendor.

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