Gas prices are above $4 a gallon. Crude oil is past $100 a barrel. And Washington is doing what Washington does — pointing to federal leasing as the fix. But is it?

TCS President Steve Ellis sits down with TCS Vice President Autumn Hanna to break down exactly how global oil markets work, why a domestic leasing policy can't move a global price, and what the numbers actually say about royalty rates and pump prices.

The math is precise, and the conclusion is clear: raising the royalty rate on new federal leases — from 12.5% to 16.67% — would have a maximum impact on pump prices of 6/100ths of a cent per gallon. That's less than a rounding error. Meanwhile, the US is already producing oil at record levels — 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025 — and Americans are still paying over $4 at the pump.

The frustration is real. The straight answers are here.

The president has released his fiscal year 2027 budget request — and buried inside the rhetoric about "historic paradigm shifts" and the end of "fiscal futility" is a $1.5 trillion Pentagon spending request. A 44% increase in a single year. And that's before the Iran War supplemental reportedly in the pipeline.

TCS President Steve Ellis brings in national security analyst Gabe Murphy and Director of Research and Policy Josh Sewell to cut through the numbers: what the administration is actually proposing, what it would cost, and what it would mean for the programs everyday Americans depend on. The budget calls it discipline. Budget Watchdog AF is going to show you the math.

Taxpayers for Common Sense doesn't just watch Congress — sometimes it sits at the witness table. Last week TCS President Steve Ellis testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance on flood insurance, repetitive loss properties, and mitigation. With reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program on the horizon, we take you inside the hearing room to hear the case he made to lawmakers: the NFIP is $40 billion in the hole, we know which properties keep flooding, we know mitigation works, and the only thing missing is the will to act.