Growls

Citizens Against Government Waste is the legacy of President Reagan’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, aka the Grace Commission. It was founded by the late industrialist J. Peter Grace and columnist Jack Anderson in 1984 “to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government.”

It accomplishes its mission through such publications as its annual Congressional pig book and various reports and newsletters. One of those is the monthly Wastewatcher newsletter. Highlights from the August 2007 issue include:

• "Davis-Bacon for Ethanol Plants: New Ways to Waste Money. The federal government’s subsidization of the ethanol industry needlessly depletes the U.S. Treasury. As if that alone were not enough to upset taxpayers, H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill Extension Act, will only make an already egregious waste of money worse by making it even more expensive to build new ethanol plants."
• "The Senate’s New Unethical Ethics Bill. "Members of Congress have reproductive organs the size of BBs," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in challenging his colleagues to enact real earmark reform. Alas, Sen. Coburn was proven correct as the Senate voted 83-14 to approve S. 1, misnamed "the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act."
• “Nutty” Earmark Rejected by Florida County. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. In the case of Coconut Road in Florida, even though a member of Congress felt like wasting taxpayer dollars on a highway interchange project at Coconut Road and I-75, taxpayers in Lee County, Florida did not want it and the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Commission eventually voted against it."

Browsing around the CAGW website for even a few minutes will convince you that politicians are capable of of wasting taxpayer dollars in an infinite number of ways. While there, consider becoming a CAGW member. Start complaining to your Senator, Congressman, and state and local grandees, too. Tell them a start would be to take a lot less of our taxes.