Tag: federal spending

Retiring GOP Senators Left Congress With $1.5 Billion in Earmarks in 2022 Spending Package

Three retiring Republican senators—Roy Blunt of Missouri, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Richard Shelby of Alabama—received more than $1.5 billion in earmarks contained in the Omnibus Spending Bill of 2022, according to a new analysis by a nonprofit government watchdog. The Republican trio’s pork barrel projects were among the 7,506 in the bill, worth a…


Retiring GOP Senators Left Congress With $1.5 Billion in Earmarks for Their States

Three retiring Republican senators—Roy Blunt of Missouri, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Richard Shelby of Alabama—received more than $1.5 billion in earmarks for projects in their states as part of last year’s spending bill, according to a new analysis by a nonprofit government watchdog. The Republican trio’s pork barrel projects were among the more than…


Fraudsters and Dead People Scored Hundreds of Billions in Government Payments Last Year, Watchdog Finds

Federal officials made more than $247 billion in improper payments in 2022, with more than half of the total—$132.4 billion—coming in five major Medicare/Medicaid programs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a June 2023 analysis by nonprofit government watchdog Open The Books (OTB). OTB, which is based in Illinois, specializes…


Fraudsters, Dead People Received Hundreds of Billions in Government Payments Last Year, Watchdog Finds

Federal officials made more than $247 billion in improper payments in 2022, with more than half of the total—$132.4 billion—coming from five major Medicare/Medicaid programs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to a June analysis by nonprofit government watchdog Open The Books (OTB). The $247 billion for 2022 was the second-highest…


Billions in Untracked Federal Grants Going to China, Russia for Cat Experiments, Wuhan Lab Research: Ernst

Hundreds of millions of American tax dollars went to recipients in China and Russia in recent years without being properly tracked by the federal government, including a grant that enabled a state-run Russian lab to test cats on treadmills, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Ernst and her staff investigators, working with auditors at the…


US Sent Billions in Funding to China, Russia for Cat Experiments, Wuhan Lab Research: Ernst

Hundreds of millions of American tax dollars went to recipients in China and Russia in recent years without being properly tracked by the federal government, including a grant that enabled a state-run Russian lab to test cats on treadmills, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Ernst and her staff investigators, working with auditors at the…


Insane Deficit Spending Is Immoral

Commentary In “Armageddon,” Bruce Willis blows himself up on an asteroid to save his daughter and all of humanity. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the movie is 25 years old.) That theme—parents providing for, and sacrificing for, their children—is the deeply moral and moving story that Americans used to love. I say “used to,” because something…


Deficits Forever and Ever

Commentary President Joe Biden’s budget predictably has sparked intense debate. Opinions on overall spending, taxes, equity, and deficits fill financial columns. To see what is happening to the nation’s finances, it helps to step away from these politically motivated criticisms and praise of the president’s proposals and instead look at the basic structure of government…


‘Woke, Weaponized, Wasteful’ Spending Is Main Target of House GOP as Budget Battle Heats Up

House Republican Conference Chairman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) didn’t hesitate a second when asked during the GOP congressional retreat in Orlando March 20 by Punchbowl co-founder Jake Sherman how she and her colleagues “can balance the budget without touching entitlements and mandatory spending” in 2023. “I believe that when we focus on Social Security and Medicare,…


House Republicans Draw Flack for Changing Earmarks to Favor Rural, Exurban Districts With GOP Officials

House Republican leaders are revamping their approach to earmarks—the controversial tool that enables individual representatives to direct tax dollars to favored projects in their districts — by barring them from four major appropriations bills in the 118th Congress. House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) and the GOP chairmen of the panel’s 11 subcommittees on…