Citizens Against Government Waste is a non-profit 501 organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, "government watchdog" and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of CAGW, organized as a section 501 organization and therefore is permitted to engage in direct lobbying activities. According to its web site, "CAGW is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW's stated mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government."
CAGW produces a number of publications critical of what it calls "pork-barrel" projects. The Congressional Pig Book Summary is an annual list of such projects and their sponsors. The 2008 Pig Book identified 10,610 projects in the 11 appropriations bills that constitute the discretionary portion of the federal budget for fiscal 2008, costing taxpayers $17.2 billion. Related publications include Prime Cuts, a list of recommendations for eliminating waste in the federal government and Porker of the Month, a monthly press release. Since 1989, the CCAGW has examined congressional roll-call votes to determine which members of Congress are voting in what they view as the interest of taxpayers. CAGW makes public what legislators are engaging in "pork-barrel" spending based on 'key' votes for each congressional session.
Activities
CAGW and CCAGW seek to influence public policy through public education, lobbying, and mobilization for email- and letter-writing campaigns. CAGW claims to have helped save taxpayers $944 billion through its campaigns. CAGW was one of the critics of the 2001 $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease and then buy 100 refueling tankers from Boeing Co. Congress squashed the plan after it was revealed that an Air Force official inflated the price in exchange for an executive job at Boeing. CAGW was a critic of Sen. John Thune and his efforts to secure a $2.3 billion federal loan for a railroad company that once employed him as a lobbyist. The Federal Railroad Administration cited an "unacceptably high risk to taxpayers" in denying the loan to the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad in 2007. CAGW named Christopher Dodd its June 2008 Porker of the Month for accepting a preferential mortgage deal from Countrywide Financial which stood to benefit from a mortgage bailout bill he was pushing through Congress.
Freeware initiative
In 2003, CAGW put out a press release opposed to what it called the "Freeware Initiative" in the State of Massachusetts, which it claimed would have required "that all IT expenditures in 2004 and 2005 be made on an open-source/Linux format." Responding to the press release, the state's secretary for administration and finance, Eric Kriss, denied the existence of a 'Freeware Initiative' and said the state was simply considering ways to integrate disparate systems using open standards such as HTTP, XML and Java.
CAGW and tobacco
The St. Petersburg Times reported that CAGW "got at least $245,000 from the tobacco industry", and subsequently lobbied on its behalf. Internal tobacco industry documents made available by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement indicate that CAGW and its affiliates supported the tobacco industry in several instances. Specifically, in 2001 when an industry-sponsored bill entitled the "Youth Smoking Reduction Act" was introduced in Congress, CAGW provided a letter of support, despite the opposition of most public health organizations. CAGW was also contacted to by Phillip Morris to include ASSIST, a federal tobacco control program, in their Pig Book. ASSIST was considered an imminent threat to industry activities at the time. Asked about his group's tobacco work, CAGW president Tom Schatz said, "We have always welcomed contributions to support the issues we support. Many of them have to do with fighting higher taxes and more regulations."
Other
Throughout its history, CAGW has been accused of fronting lobbying efforts of corporations to give them the appearance of "grassroots" support. According to the St. Petersburg Times in 2006, the Pig Book has been used to benefit corporate donors, specifically health clubs who donated to CAGW. It listed federal grants to YMCAs who compete with those health clubs as waste. CAGW's president countered that "The Ys are there because they qualify as pork. Period." A Senate Finance Committee investigating ties between CAGW and Jack Abramoff in 2006 stated in a report that the non-profits: 'probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients."' In 2007, CAGW supported a bill that would limit damages resulting from malpractice lawsuits. Many consumer watchdog groups opposed the bill.
"Chinese Professor" ad
The CAGW launched an ad, now commonly referred to as "Chinese Professor" for the 2010 midterm elections, which portrays a 2030 conquest of an indebted United States by China. Local Asian American extras were used to portray the Chinese students, although the actors were not informed of the nature of the shoot. Columnist Jeff Yang said that in the campaign there was a "blurry line between Chinese and Chinese-Americans". Larry McCarthy, the producer of "Chinese Professor," defended his work by saying that "this ad is about America, it's not about China."
CARES Act
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the group received assistance between $150,000 and $350,000 in federally backed small business loan from Truist Bank as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The nonprofit stated it would allow them to retain 17 jobs. Their loan was seen as notable, since they campaign against excess government spending and are small-government advocates. CAGW said it was the first time they have accepted government money. Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times quipped that "We're all socialists now, apparently.", calling CAGW an anti-debt crusader].
