CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE REPORT

CAGW Finally Shoots Down MEADS Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) multi-year battle to terminate the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) met with success in 2013 with the Pentagon canceling this misguided missile defense program that the U.S. Army did not want and that was $2 billion over budget and 10 years behind schedule. CAGW’s effort to defund MEADS included the publication of a 2012 Issue Brief; numerous articles, radio media tours, and an op-ed in U.S. News & World Report; and the creation of a “Misguided Missile” website. Read more about the termination of MEADS. CAGW Scores another Long-Sought Victory Congress finally heeded CAGW’s longstanding call to eliminate $12 million in annual funding for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). Featured in CAGW’s Pig Book for many years, the NDIC was a pet project of the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who supplied the program with a total of $47.5 million in earmarks used largely to duplicate the work of other federal, state, and local programs. Read more about this “treat” for taxpayers. CCAGW Strikes a Blow against Obamacare Fraud The budget deal that Congress reached on October 16 included a Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)-backed provision requiring that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) certify that it can verify the income of Americans applying for federal health insurance subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges. Opening the door to the potential for widespread fraud and loss of taxpayer dollars, HHS had announced in July that it would not be able to verify the income eligibility of health exchange applicants and would therefore simply accept their claims on household income at face value. Read more about CCAGW’s efforts to make HHS comply with the law. CCAGW Helps Defeat Ill-Conceived FARRM Bill After a hard-fought lobbying battle, CCAGW applauded the defeat of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (FARRM) on June 20 as a victory for taxpayers. Contrary to its name, the ill-conceived House version of the 2013 Farm Bill failed to reform the federal government’s labyrinthine, outdated, and wasteful agricultural policies, and CCAGW publicly chastised the 46 Republican House members who abandoned the interests of taxpayers and catered to the special interests by voting against at least nine out of 16 reform amendments to FARRM. CCAGW members played their part, generating more than 5,500 grassroots letters to the House and Senate supporting reform of the federal government’s antiquated sugar and dairy programs. Read more about how the FARRM bill’s defeat is a victory for taxpayers. CAGW Reaches Millennials with Fiscal Restraint Message CAGW’s “Shut Down the Waste” campaign, which coincided with October’s government shutdown and featured a series of three provocative, cutting-edge online videos, drew the Millennial Generation’s attention to the dangers of runaway, wasteful deficit spending and the imperative of greater fiscal responsibility in Washington. Promoted widely on social media, the video series has to date generated nearly 2.8 million impressions on YouTube, Facebook, and Google. Read more about CAGW's campaign to "Shut Down the Waste." CCAGW Again Recognized as “Top Lobbyist” The Hill newspaper recognized CCAGW for its high visibility and clout on Capitol Hill by once again naming CCAGW President Tom Schatz one of the “Top Lobbyists of 2013.” The House of Representatives called on CAGW to provide expert testimony multiple times this year before such prestigious committees as Oversight & Government Reform; the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, & Homeland Security; and the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations. In addition, CAGW and CCAGW hosted two widely attended and well-received Capitol Hill Briefings on “Saving Taxpayer Dollars through Better Software Management” and on “Stolen Identify Tax Refund Fraud,” respectively. CAGW Receives Widespread Media Coverage in 2013 CAGW once again received widespread media coverage in 2013, with appearances on television, radio, and in newspapers and newsmagazines from coast to coast. From interviews on CBS’s “This Morning,” CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront," C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” FOX Business Network’s “The Willis Report,” FOX News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” and “FOX & Friends,” and The Wall Street Journal Radio Network to citations in the Associated Press, Time, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times, to name just a few, CAGW has again made Washington’s runaway spending one of the top news stories in America. And in the States … CCAGW battled tax increase proposals in a number of states in 2013, including in Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Vermont. In addition, on March 12 the New York State Supreme Court validated CAGW’s nomination of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) for the 2012 Porker of the Year when it struck down his proposed ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” Mayor Bloomberg finished third in CAGW’s online poll for 2012 Porker of the Year, earning 20.6 percent of the vote for his nanny-state fervor. From all of us at CAGW, Happy Holidays!