John,

As summer vacations were winding down, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) took no time off from being laser‑focused on eliminating government waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement throughout August.

From restoring common sense governing to reforming critical systems, we tracked waste from the Universal Service Fund to overdue upgrades in federal IT systems and spotlighted costly large‑scale deals like the $900 million subsidy for the Utah Jazz's new basketball arena. 

In healthcare, we kept an eye on the Senate HELP Committee hearing that underscored serious abuses of the 340B Drug Discount Program, spotlighting how the failure to define a patient along with lax eligibility and oversight allow hospitals and contract pharmacies to profit at the expense of patients and the public purse.

True to our mission, CAGW continued calling for accountability alongside actionable reform. Whether we were confronting systemic inefficiencies, amplifying legislative urgency, or sounding the alarm on 340B’s growing misuse, August was about advancing solutions that protect both taxpayers and promote more efficiency in programs that are truly needed.

Here is your August edition of CAGW's Government Waste Watch eNews:

Porker of the Month

Citizens Against Government Waste named Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) the August 2025 Porker of the Month for once again leading Congress in pork-barrel spending. 

As chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Collins has already requested more than $400 million in earmarks for FY 2026, the most of any member of Congress, after securing 231 earmarks worth $575.6 million in FY 2024, which was also the most of any member of Congress. 

Previous earmarks like subsidies for lobster and blueberry research and funds for the Bangor Opera House and Portland Museum of Art are typical of her leading role in procuring prolific amounts of pork-barrel earmarks and showing blatant disregard for taxpayers nationwide.

Combatting Improper Payments in Federal Spending

Improper payments have long been an avoidable drain on the federal budget and are often prominently featured as an example of wasteful spending. So it was not surprising that cutting back on the proliferation of such payments was the first recommendation in an updated Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on open proposals to improve government operations.

Improved Permitting Process Will Streamline Broadband Deployment

The Federal Communications Commission is taking action to reduce paperwork and speed up the build out of broadband and mobile networks to unserved and underserved communities across the country. This will help to expedite not only BEAD projects but also funding from dozens of other federal broadband programs.

This Week in Waste: August 22, 2025

This week’s roundup features recommended reforms for the Universal Service Fund, taxpayer savings thanks to BEAD program changes, an egregious example of wasteful stadium subsidies in Utah, and the elimination of a New Green Deal initiative that was wasting taxpayer dollars.  

State BEAD Expected to Show Taxpayer Savings

States across the country are working to finalize their final Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment funding proposals to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration by the September 4, 2025, deadline. 

Universal Service Fund Remains Ripe for Reform

The Universal Service Fund (USF) remains outdated, wasteful, and poorly managed. Thankfully, Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) announced the reconstitution of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Congressional Working Group to address reforming the USF.

This Week in Waste - August 15, 2025

In this roundup, the GAO finds 69 federal IT systems that need modernizing, including 11 that are in critical condition; the Senate HELP committee highlights the need to reform the 340B drug pricing program; Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) proposes terminating the USDA's wasteful Community Connect Grant program; President Trump signs an executive order to enable competition in the commercial space industry that tracks a longstanding Grace Commission recommendation; and more.  

Senate HELP Committee Hearing Highlights Need to Reform 340B

The 340B Drug Discount Program is a wasteful and regressive reverse Robin Hood program that robs from indigent patients and smaller hospitals and gives to large hospitals and pharmacies. A Senate HELP Committee report and hearing should serve as a jumping off point for Congress to make much-needed reforms to the program that CAGW has been promoting for years. 

GAO Reconfirms Federal IT Must Be Modernized

CAGW has long been critical of the federal government's  failure to update its IT systems. In its July 17, 2025, report to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the need for agencies to modernize “critical decades-old legacy systems,” GAO updated the committee on progress in modernizing the 10 most critical systems it had identified in 2019.  

This Week in Waste - August 8, 2025

This week CAGW’s policy experts cover Sen. Markwayne Mullins’ recommendations for reforming the 340B Drug Discount  Program, why states shouldn’t impose bulk billing bans if they want citizens to have affordable broadband access, new bills introduced in Congress to codify and expand DOGE's mission, and more. 

DOGE on the Hill: Sniffing Out Waste in Congress

On President Trump’s first day in office, he issued an executive order establishing of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As of July 26, 2025, DOGE estimated that its actions and recommendations, if fully implemented, would save $1,236 per taxpayer. Now, members of Congress have introduced legislation to expand and formalize DOGE’s functions and mission.  

States Should Refrain from Bulk Billing Bans

Providing broadband service at the lowest price to the largest possible number of Americans should be a bipartisan effort, and laws or regulations that impede that objective should be avoided. Yet the California legislature is on the precipice of passing AB 1414, which would hinder landlords in their efforts to negotiate lower broadband rates for their tenants.

Markwayne Mullin Wants to Make 340B Work for Oklahomans

The federal 340B Drug Pricing Program was intended to provide discounts on drugs to patients but the lack of a clear intent and patient definition, along with inadequate oversight, has led to the program being exploited by hospitals and contract pharmacies to generate millions of dollars in profit. 

The failure to provide the benefits Congress intended when the program was created in 1992 has led Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to take a leading role in the efforts to reform 340B.

This Week in Waste - August 1, 2025

August kicks off with Ohio joining the flat tax revolution, the IRS eliminating Direct File, air traffic control modernization moving forward with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and more. 

Thank you for reading our Government WasteWatch eNews report, John. Your support is essential to our efforts to make government more efficient and effective. 

From everyone at CAGW, we hope you and your family have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend.

Thomas Schatz

President, Citizens Against Government Waste