Dear Friends,

Taxpayers for Common Sense and the nation had quite the 2021! Our first Weekly Wastebasket of the year was one that we never thought we would have to write, but what happened January 6^th shook us to our core. The assault on the rule of law and our republic was enough to get us to veer from our budgetary lane to simply state: “This is Not Normal. The Rule of Law Must Prevail.”

Now that that’s been said, let’s veer back to the normal, or at least pandemic-normal. At the beginning of the year, we were looking forward to getting vaccinated and back to the office. Well, the getting back to the office part didn’t happen. However, our team of budget watchdogs are now adept at the whole WFH culture, and we (mostly virtually) stayed on top of all the ways the government is spending (and sometimes wasting) your money.

So, what did we do?

Published more than 120 analyses, 51 Weekly Wastebaskets (including this one), 13 podcasts, 10 op-eds, and six investigative reports. We sent 20 letters to Capitol Hill that were joined by 98 different co-signing groups, made four public comments and testified before the House and the Senate. We tracked trillions of dollars in federal spending through pandemic stimulus packages, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and Build Back Better budget reconciliation package. Our work was cited by more than 950 media outlets from national outlets like ABC and Fox to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, as well as inside-the-beltway papers like Politico and the Washington Post. Importantly we got our message into a lot of hometown papers across the country like the Pinedale Roundup and the Juneau Empire.

We beat the drum on budget process reforms, excessive defense spending, responsible pandemic response, modernizing federal land programs for oil and gas and hardrock mining, wasteful energy and agriculture subsidies, reforming federal disaster policies, the return of earmarks, tackling climate change, and holding bad actors accountable for long-term liabilities.

Time and again, we were in the fray looking out for taxpayers, reminding policymakers to be fiscally responsible, and calling out waste. Our work was cited by Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, because no matter where you are on the political spectrum no one wants to see tax dollars wasted.

But maybe because of the events of January 6^th, we see it as also important to know the people behind the green eyeshades, away from the glow of spreadsheets, and not just from quotes here and there. Because of our common humanity and shared republic.

So, now for some brags that are typical holiday letter fare. We’re excited to tell you we’ve hired two new staff members who promptly moved to Washington during a pandemic. Mia didn’t miss a beat diving into budget issues and has become an invaluable researcher for the energy and natural resources team. And in Tyler, we gained the ultimate utility player, helping with development details one minute, keeping our communications campaigns on track the next, and tackling some tricky research in between.

We had one staffer complete his M.S. in Applied Economics and get himself a future M-R-S by proposing in the summer.We had three staffers get new puppies named Hazel, Sophie, and Gracie, plus one statistical outlier who got a rabbit named Snowball. Another bought a house (no puppy though).

Finally, of the 11 kids we collectively have the pleasure of parenting, we’re happy to report 11/11 went to school (in-person!) for at least some amount of time this fall. That is minus the seemingly weekly COVID-19 quarantines and “normal” colds, viruses, and urgent care visits that had them (literally) crawling up the walls.

But, we also had a minor office disaster. A high-pressure water line burst in our office kitchen. And that water ran for a while. So, we had some significant moisture damage to the first floor of our building.  Early next year we’ll be launching a capital campaign to help us pay for whatever insurance doesn’t cover. Because when you’re a low-overhead budget watchdog group, you watch your own pennies just as closely as the taxpayers’.

So that’s it for us this year! We’ll be back at it in January. Until then, everyone enjoy their holidays!

–The TCS Staff

P.S. If you want to get a jump on that capital campaign or take advantage of the up to $600 you can deduct this year even if you do not itemize, please donate here. Or if you just want to keep us up-to-date on your year, send us an email.