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Latest Policy Publications
POGO’s experts push policymakers to enact commonsense reforms that tackle waste, corruption, and abuse of power; hold those who’ve violated the public trust accountable; protect our constitutional rights; and make the government work for all people.
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Report
More Brass, More Bucks, Officer Inflation in Today’s Military
This report shows that our military has almost twice as many officers per enlisted personnel than at the end of World War II. In short, officer inflation in the U.S. military has reached an all-time high. At a time when pay for enlisted personnel is so low that some are on foo...
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Testimony
Testimony of POGO’s Danielle Brian before the Department of Interior Minerals Management Service’s Public Hearing Regarding the Proposed Oil Valuation Rule
I am Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight. We are a non-profit, non-partisan government watchdog group which, for the past four years, has been investigating, exposing and remedying the oil industry's underpayment of royalties to the federa...
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Policy Letter
POGO Letter to Congress Endorsing a Cap on Future Federal Spending on the Big Dig
Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project ("Big Dig") recently has received national attention. Both "60 Minutes" and The Washington Post detailed cost overruns associated with building the most expensive highway in the United States. This recent publicity is ...
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Testimony
Testimony of POGO’s Danielle Brian Before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Acquisition and Technology
We have always been supporters of a strong national defense. We also believe in a reasonable consolidation of the defense industry that takes great care in assisting displaced workers, and maintains an adequate level of competition in each sector. However, we believe that the...
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Report
Drilling For The Truth: More Information Surfaces On Unpaid Oil Royalties
After several years of POGO's prodding, in September and October 1996, DOI sent out bills for $385 million in unpaid royalties to oil companies operating under federal leases in California.2 This $385 million is just a portion of the total amount of unpaid royalties owed to t...
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Report
Defense and Health Care Industries: Rather Than Clean Up Their Act, They Attack the Act
The major trade associations for the defense and health care industries have risen up in support of the Hughes Aircraft Company -- the defendant in a pending fraud case before the Supreme Court. Hughes' appeal to the Supreme Court challenges the potency of the False Claims Ac...
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Testimony
Written Submission for the Record
Over two years ago, we began investigating the Department of Interior's record in collecting royalties from the oil industry. After several FOIA requests, and two reports on the subject, it is clear to us today that the current arrangement is unworkable.
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Report
With A Wink And A Nod: How the Oil Industry and the Department of Interior Are Cheating the American Public and California School Children
With a Wink and a Nod: How the Oil Industry and the Department of Interior are Cheating the American Public and California School Children
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Report
Wait! There Is More Money to Collect...Unpaid Oil Royalties Across the Nation
POGO's initial 2 reports revealed the federal government's failure to collect royalties from oil companies that drill on public lands in California. This report shows evidence that the federal government's failure to adequately collect oil royalties is nationwide – involving a...
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Report
No Light At the End of This Tunnel: Boston’s Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project
In 1995, the Boston Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel, more commonly known as the Big Dig, ran billions over budget and years behind schedule. Sold to Congress as a $2.3 billion project to be completed in 1998, the Big Dig far exceeded all cost estimates, ringing in at a stun...
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Report
Department of Interior Looks the Other Way: The Government’s Slick Deal for the Oil Industry
Department of Interior Looks the Other Way
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Report
Children’s Ears & Antibiotics: Gold Mine for Pharmaceutical Companies, Land Mine for Children
This report was first released in June 1994, and was updated in August 1994 to reflect the information published in the final version of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Guidelines, "Otitis Media with Effusion in Young Children." August 1994, Revised Ed...