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Porker of the Month: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) Porker of the Month for trying to exhume scary, horrendous, and wasteful congressional earmarks. In September, Rep. Wasserman Schultz committed to resuming the wasteful practice if Democrats maintain control of the House, calling them a “campaign messaging stunt.”. But she ignored the fact that since 1991, Congress has squandered an outrageous $375.7 billion on 111,417 earmarks, with $15.9 wasted in fiscal year 2020. Despite the national debt of $27 trillion being forecast to grow at a record pace over the next decade, Rep. Wasserman Schultz is attempting to resurrect Congress’s most corrupt, inequitable and wasteful practice. For trying to resuscitate earmarks, Rep. Wasserman Schultz is the October Porker of the Month. Read more about the Porker of the Month.
CAGW Goes Trick-or-Treating
Just in time for Halloween, CAGW has released its 20th annual compilation of scary, surreal, and spine-tingling tricks and treats for taxpayers. This year’s treats include President Trump’s Executive Order that led to more than 850 rules and regulations being suspended or terminated to help the country recover from the coronavirus pandemic and savings of $22.3 billion at the Department of Defense. Taxpayer tricks include the coming Socialist apocalypse, the the horrific growing national debt, currently $27 trillion, and the House of Representatives’ attempt to rob almost $1 trillion from the public to bail out states for decades of their wasteful spending. Read the full list of tricks and treats that the federal government has handed out to taxpayers in 2020.
CCAGW Weighs in on State Ballot Initiatives
CCAGW opined on several ballot initiatives that voters will consider in this election on “The WasteWatcher,” CCAGW’s staff blog. Three states will consider allowing sports betting after the Supreme Court paved the way in 2018. CCAGW recommends a vote for these measures in Louisiana, Maryland, and South Dakota. Excise tax increases are again on the ballot in Colorado and Oregon, which CCAGW opposes. In Michigan, CCAGW supports an important privacy proposal that would require a search warrant to access and individual’s electronic data and communications. Finally, in California, CCAGW supports Proposition 22, which would protect the jobs and livelihoods of app-based gig workers for companies like Uber, Lyft, Door Dash, and Instacart. Read more about the ballot initiatives on “The WasteWatcher.”
CAGW’s Deborah Collier Appears on Technology Panel
CAGW Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Deborah Collier participated in a panel discussion about the future of wireless spectrum on October 28. The virtual event, titled “A Full Spectrum Future: Connecting America,” featured Federal Communications Committee Chairman Ajit Pai as the keynote speaker and focused on the 5.9 GHz spectrum band, which was set aside in 1999 for a specific automotive communications technology called DSRC. Since then, numerous advances have been made in auto safety technology that does not rely on this spectrum, and CAGW has long been calling for the 5.9 band it to be opened up for better purposes, specifically unlicensed wi-fi. The FCC agrees with CAGW’s position and will be voting at its November 2020 meeting to allocate 45 MHz of the band for unlicensed use, and keep the upper 30 MHz of the band for automotive communications technology. Watch the event online.
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