Government Waste

Why the Price of the F-35 Keeps Soaring

By Ciro Scotti

The 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 Pianin

For 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 Pianin

By 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 Pianin

In 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 Pianin

The 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 Pianin

The 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 Scotti

Under 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 Pianin

A 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 Garver

The 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 Pianin

In 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...

Is U.S.'s $109.8 Billion Afghan Rebuild Turning a Corner?

By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

Over the last thirteen years, the U.S. has pumped more than $104 billion into building bridges, roads, schools, and hospitals in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has also trained and equipped the country’s...
How Post-9/11 Spending on Troops Became a Pentagon Slush Fund

By Eric Pianin

John Ams, vice president of the National Society of Accountants, says the games Congress is playing with the defense budget this year wouldn’t pass the sniff test in the private sector. Ams, a lawyer...
Congress’s Favorite Gimmicks for Disguising Spending

By Rob Garver

Even most members of Congress will tell you that they are outraged by how Congress spends taxpayer money. But among the policy analysts who follow budget and appropriations battles, what produces...
More U.S. Money Wasted on Efforts to Rebuild Haiti

By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

The U.S. has spent nearly $2 billion over the last five years attempting to rebuild Haiti after the island was devastated by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake. And though the effort has made some...
The Political Boondoggle That Just Won’t Die

By Eric Pianin

Every year, 5,000 to 9,000 tons of coal mined from the rugged hills of Tamaqua in northeast Pennsylvania is loaded onto railcars and shipped to Rotterdam. From there, the coal is moved by barge,...

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