Budget Battles
-
Republicans Want Strings Attached to California Disaster Aid
-
Biden Goes Out With a Bang in the Jobs Market
-
Trump Privately Pushes Senators for ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’
-
Trump Considers Declaring National Emergency for Tariff Rollout
-
Trump Unloads: Grievances, Greenland and the Gulf of Mexico
-
Republicans Divided Over How to Pass Trump’s Agenda
-
Trump Pushes Johnson to Victory as Speaker
-
Why the Price of the F-35 Keeps Soaring
By Ciro ScottiThe most costly fighter ever built is getting even more expensive. A new General Accounting Office report says the Pentagon will spend an additional $3.9 billion over the next five years on “...
-
What a Waste—Senate Health Care Debate Squanders Time and Millions for Nothing
By Rob Garver and Eric PianinFor Republican leaders in the Senate, watching their first two attempts to pass a health care bill this week fail badly in floor votes must have been extra painful as they plainly knew in advance...
-
The Pentagon Skips Out on a $10 Billion Debt
By Eric PianinBy law, the free-spending Defense Department is required to implement a plan to achieve at least $10 billion in administrative cost savings within the next two years. But the Government...
-
Can Congress Finally Stop Wasting $100 Billion a Year in Erroneous Payments?
By Eric PianinIn response to repeated prodding by the General Accounting Office and other government watchdogs, the House Budget Committee is calling for creation of a special commission to crack down on...
-
Homeland Security Did Not Report $3.5 Million Spent on Conferences
By Eric PianinThe behemoth Department of Homeland Security violated federal rules when they neglected to report nearly two dozen conferences sponsored by the agency in 2014 and 2015 at an overall cost of more than...
-
The Latest FBI Mess: The $2 Billion Project to Build Its New Headquarters
By Eric PianinThe FBI’s once imposing fortress-like headquarters in downtown Washington is in shambles today, with netting hanging from the façade to prevent broken concrete from hitting passing tourists. Inside,...
-
The Navy’s Argument for Building Another $500 Million Combat Ship Doesn’t Hold Water
By Ciro ScottiUnder pressure from the White House, the Navy agreed to add a second Littoral Combat Ship to its 2018 budget despite grave concerns about the capabilities of the vessel. The stated reason was to save...
-
How a No-Show Worker Scammed the VA Out of $100,000
By Eric PianinA former research investigator at a VA health facility in Oklahoma City scammed the government out of more than $100,000 by claiming thousands of hours of work while he was drawing a salary at a...
-
Ouch! Mylan May Have Overcharged the US More Than $1 Billion for EpiPens
By Rob GarverThe federal government appears to have shelled out more than $1.27 billion in overpayments to the drug company Mylan, which holds the patent on the widely-used EpiPen, an auto-injector for...
-
How Bad Is Drug Theft at VA Hospitals? Feds Pursue Dozens of New Cases
By Eric PianinIn the last few months, the VA inspector general’s office opened 36 criminal investigations into alleged drug theft by employees at veterans hospitals, bringing the number of open criminal...
-
Hospice Industry Games Medicare to Make Billions
By Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating, The Washington PostHospice patients are expected to die: The treatment focuses on providing comfort to the terminally ill, not finding a cure. To enroll a patient, two doctors certify a life expectancy of six months or...
-
NASA Makes Coburn’s List for Wasteful Spending
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesNASA has suffered from major budget cuts that have severely scaled back its mission and halted its manned-space program. Over the past few days we’ve watched NASA astronauts fix a broken cooling loop...
-
Space Agency Targeted for Wasteful Spending
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesNASA has suffered from major budget cuts that have severely scaled back its mission and halted its manned-space program. Over the past few days we’ve watched NASA astronauts fix a broken cooling loop...
-
Fed Agency Stuffs Special Interest Stockings with $50M
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesIt’s been Christmas all year long for special interest groups that have cozied up to the Department of Agriculture and reaped the benefits. Trade organizations for Christmas tree farms, wineries,...
-
Obamacare Tech Firm Messed Up 20 Other Gov’t Projects
By Jerry Markon and ALICE CRITES, The Washington PostCGI Federal , the company responsible for building the problem-plagued Web site for the Affordable Care Act , won the job because of what federal officials deemed a “technically superior” proposal,...