CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE 01/29/2015

Porker of the Month: Sen. Cory Booker Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) Porker of the Month for introducing a fatuous legislative proposal that would impinge on states’ rights and jeopardize taxpayer dollars. Sen. Booker’s Community Broadband Act parrots the recommendations made in a January, 2015 White House report and would interfere with states’ ability to restrict or prohibit municipalities from building or expanding taxpayer-funded broadband networks. Government-owned broadband networks have been a financial drain on local taxpayers, lack long-term resources for maintenance and upgrades, and compete unfairly with existing private-sector telecommunications providers. As a result, 20 states have enacted laws to protect local governments from making costly mistakes by building broadband networks, and in 2004, the Supreme Court ruled in Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League that states have such authority.  For his attempt to expand the power of the federal government, override the constitutional prerogative of states to decide what is best for their local governments, and shove failed, expensive government-owned telecommunications systems onto unsuspecting taxpayers, Sen. Booker is the January Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month. President’s SOTU Is an Alternate Universe  CAGW responded to President Obama’s January 20 State of the Union (SOTU) address by noting that it would have made a good episode of “The Twilight Zone.”  In “The Obama Zone,” there is no national debt, because the President never mentioned it during his entire speech. There is no government waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, which also went unmentioned, as did duplicative or overlapping federal programs. Seemingly, every federal program is in perfect working order.  President Obama failed to acknowledge that taxpayers would be footing the bill for his “free” community college plan, just as property taxes pay for the “free” high school he cited. The President also never made reference to the worsening financial woes of Social Security and Medicare, the two largest and most popular government entitlement programs. CAGW concluded that the speech was a waste of taxpayers’ time and money.  Read more of CAGW’s reaction to the SOTU. From “The Swine Line” … This month, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended approval of the first biosimilar drug, called filgrastim, reports CAGW Health and Science Director Elizabeth Wright on CAGW’s “Swine Line” blog.  One of the few good things to come out of the Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act created an abbreviated pathway for bringing the “generic” versions of biologic drugs, more properly called biosimilars, to the marketplace.  Biologics are made from living organisms, as opposed to chemically-based drugs, and offer a promising, vital new therapy for millions of Americans.  However, the high cost of these drugs has stirred concern and controversy.  Biosimilars provide a safe and effective alternative to brand-name biologics once their patents have expired, and a November, 2014 Rand Corporation study found that introducing competing biosimilars, currently sold in more than 40 countries, into the U.S. marketplace could cut spending on biologics in the U.S. by $44 billion over the next decade.  Wright concludes by noting that the FDA advisory panel’s decision was both exciting and historic, but the introduction of filgrastim into the U.S. still faces barriers that the FDA must resolve before granting official approval, hopefully by March, which would give patients access to the drug by the end of the year.  Read more about cost-saving biosimilar drugs.