Posted on October 31st, 2011 by Erica Gordon
Senator David Vitter (R-La.) recently introduced S. 1385, which would terminate the $1 presidential coin program. Unfortunately, his legislation is misguided and contrary to the interests of taxpayers. S. 1835 would cost the government and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the U.S. Mint’s annual report, the $1 coin program made a net [...]
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Posted on October 31st, 2011 by Luke Gelber
The Obama Administration’s record in the game of pretend stock broker took another hit yesterday when Beacon Power Corp., which received a federal loan guarantee to build an energy storage plant in Delaware, filed for bankruptcy. The loan guarantee, worth $43 million, was awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) under the same program that [...]
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Posted on October 24th, 2011 by Deborah Collier
In my July blog post on the Social Security Administration’s “Baby Name” App, I detailed the wasted taxpayer dollars used to develop mobile apps. Last Friday, NextGov published an article on a report issued by White Horse, an Oregon-based design company detailing wasteful and useless mobile apps. According to the article, many of the apps [...]
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Posted on October 19th, 2011 by Deborah Collier
The Video Relay Service (VRS) program allows deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals who communicate in American Sign Language to communicate with voice telephone users through the Internet by way of a sign language interpreter, who relays the signed conversation orally to a hearing person. The program has been plagued by fraud and abuse that stems, in [...]
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Posted on October 13th, 2011 by Luke Gelber
One of the more irritating aspects of economic discussions in Washington is the way that opposing sides cherry-pick their arguments for and against specific policies. For example, supporters of stimulus spending often rail against tax cuts while ignoring the fact that the argument for tax cuts during recessions is identical to the argument for ramping [...]
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Posted on October 7th, 2011 by Erica Gordon
Here’s a refreshing idea: Congress should fairly, accurately and transparently report spending and savings figures. The Honest Budget Act of 2011, introduced by Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), would force lawmakers to do just that. Budget gimmicks have unfortunately become the norm in Congress. At a time when the national debt tops [...]
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Posted on October 6th, 2011 by Deborah Collier
In recent years, the FCC has been examining how to best retool the Universal Service Fund (USF) to meet twenty-first century communications needs. This past February, the commission initiated a proceeding to modernize and reform USF and the Intercarrier Compensation System (ICC). This morning, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski held a press briefing to reveal the [...]
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Posted on October 3rd, 2011 by Deborah Collier
On September 30, 2011, an article appeared in Nextgov detailing the loss last month of computer tapes containing health care information on 4.9 million TRICARE beneficiaries. These tapes, which did not meet federal encryption standards, were stolen from the vehicle of a government contractor. Hauntingly familiar, this event rings similar to a situation in May [...]
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