AMA 155 – Citizens Against Government Waste and the Congressional Pig Book with Tom Schatz

Thomas A. Schatz is president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and its lobbying affiliate, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW).

Mr. Schatz is a nationally-recognized spokesperson on government waste and has been interviewed on hundreds of radio talk shows from coast to coast. He is a regularly featured guest on national television news programs and local news broadcasts. His appearances include ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’s “60 Minutes,” FOX News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” NBC’s “Nightly News,” and PBS’s “The News Hour.” He was a regularly featured guest on the “Pork Watch” segment of CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” His editorials on fiscal policy have appeared in publications nationwide, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Schatz has testified numerous times on government waste issues before committees of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before state and local legislative and regulatory bodies.

During his 30 years with CAGW, Mr. Schatz has helped make CAGW a “leading government watchdog on fiscally conservative issues, like taxes and earmarks,” according to National Journal. He has been named one of the “top lobbyists” in Washington for the past six years by The Hill. The newspaper also cited CAGW for its leading role in successfully pushing for the congressional earmark moratorium, which was identified as one of the “top 10 lobbying victories” of 2010.

Prior to joining CAGW in 1986, Mr. Schatz spent six years as legislative director for Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr. and two years practicing law and lobbying.

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Key Takeaways:

[1:37] This years pork report

[4:00] What Congress has done with spending bills that is creating less transparency and less trust in the system

[8:02] The difference that having a business person in the White House rather than a lawyer/politician might make

[11:55] If people are actually paying attention to local politics

Website Mentioned:

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