CCAGW Helps Push Tax Cuts across the Finish Line
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CCAGW) year-long effort to help President Trump advance his top goal of winning tax relief for all Americans has culminated in success! On December 22, the President signed the landmark Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law. CCAGW held a coveted seat at the table with key congressional and top Trump Administration decision-makers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Vice President Mike Pence, during the battle for tax relief, and CCAGW members and supporters generated more than 40,000 e-mails to the House of Representatives and Senate this fall, helping win this once-in-a-generation victory for taxpayers. Read more about how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will make taxes lower, fairer, and simpler and help rein in big government.
CAGW Plays Key Role in Executive Branch Reorganization
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as President was the issuance of an executive order directing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “to submit … a proposed plan to reorganize the executive branch in order to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of agencies.” CAGW has been one of a select few groups tapped by OMB leaders to provide recommendations and guidance to achieve the goals of the executive order over the past year and will continue to play a role in 2018. Read more about the Trump Administration's drive to streamline the federal bureaucracy.
Trump Budget Adopts CAGW Cost-Cutting Proposals
In May, President Trump released his budget blueprint for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The blueprint consolidates and eliminates many government programs that CAGW has identified as wasteful for years in its annual Prime Cuts publication, such as the Appalachian Regional Commission, Denali Commission, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Read more about the CAGW cost-cutting proposals adopted in President Trump’s budget.
CCAGW Champions Regulatory Rollback
From his first days in office and throughout the year, President Trump has worked to lift the heavy hand of overbearing government that has stifled economic growth and job creation. To date, his administration has axed $86 billion worth of regulations. Meanwhile, urged on by a CCAGW lobbying push, Congress used the Congressional Review Act to roll back an additional 14 regulations from the waning months of the Obama Administration, saving an additional $34.8 billion. Read more about the rollback of the regulatory state.
CCAGW-Endorsed IT Modernization Measures Become Law
On December 12, President Trump signed into law the FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which included provisions endorsed by CCAGW incentivizing federal agencies to modernize their information technology (IT) systems. As long documented by CAGW, the federal government spends $65 billion each year maintaining outdated, legacy IT systems, and upgrading these systems will improve the delivery of services and save billions of wasted tax dollars. Read more about how IT modernization will reduce costs and improve the efficiency of federal agencies.
CAGW Cheers Restoration of Internet Freedom
CAGW cheered the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) approval of the Restoring Internet Freedom order on December 14, which removed the antiquated, Depression-era regulations over the internet that the Obama Administration’s FCC imposed in 2015. CAGW had filed multiple comments with the FCC on the rulemaking and welcomed a return to the light-touch regulatory approach to the internet that was in place for two decades. Read more about this victory for technological innovation and American consumers.
CAGW Receives Widespread Media Coverage in 2017
CAGW once again received widespread media coverage in 2017, with appearances on television, radio, and in newspapers and newsmagazines from coast to coast. From interviews on CBS’s “Evening News,” FOX Business Network’s “After the Bell” and “Intelligence Report with Trish Regan,” and FOX News Channel’s “America's Newsroom” and “Shepard Smith Reporting” to hundreds of citations on local ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates and in articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Herald, CNN.com, National Review, The New York Times, Reuters, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Washington Post, to name just a few, CAGW once again made Washington’s runaway spending one of the top news stories in America.
And in the States …
CCAGW’s state-based lobbying efforts helped block the imposition of an internet sales tax in Arkansas; a wireless tax increase in Connecticut; and a tobacco tax increase in Montana. In Texas, CCAGW successfully advocated for legislation that reins in regulations on businesses and shined a spotlight on a high-speed rail boondoggle. CAGW also brought scrutiny to a proposed government-owned broadband network in Kentucky, a project that even centrist publications and legislators in the state are now criticizing.
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From all of us at CAGW, thank you for a successful 2017. With your help, we will score even more victories in 2018. Happy New Year!
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