The federal government wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on a number of absurd and bizarre projects, including securing the Paraguayan border, studies on lonely rats and their relationship to cocaine, and “various magical projects.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Monday released his annual Festivus report chock-full of grievances after another year of incredibly wasteful spending. This year, he is highlighting over $1 trillion in government waste.
“Who’s to blame for our crushing national debt? Everybody. This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills, filled with subsidies for underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives,” Paul wrote in the report.
“As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates,” he continued before highlighting some of the most egregious examples of waste.
“So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (spending) Grievances!” the senator exclaimed.
Some of the items included:
- Ghost Towns on the Government’s Dime: The federal government spent $10 billion on maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings
- A Pandemic Plunder: A Florida man stole $8 million in COVID-19 Relief funds to buy an island and more
- Your Tax Dollars at Play: The Department of the Interior (DOI) spent $12 Million on a Las Vegas Pickleball Complex
- Hold on to Your Steering Wheels: The Department of Energy (DOE) spent $15.5 billion to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don’t want
- Taxpayers Fund a Disinformation Index: The Department of State (DOS) wasted $330,000 to fund censorship of non-liberal and conservative media
- The Influencer Effect Hits Foreign Policy: The Department of State (DOS) squandered $4,840,082 on influencers
- Girls Just Wanna Have Funds: The Department of State (DOS) spent $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil
- Because Who Needs a Secure U.S. Border, Anyway? The Department of State (DOS) spent $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security
- Oh Rats! HHS Spends Nearly Half a Million on a Depressing Study of Lonely, Starved Rats: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent $419,470 to determine if lonely rats seek cocaine more than happy rats
- Fauci Funded Feline COVID Experiments: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) spent $2.24 million on COVID experiments
- Cat-Stipated?: The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $10,851,439 on Orwellian cat experiments
- Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, There Goes Your Tax Dollars Too! The federal government spent $7,026,689 on various magical projects
- Dragging Tax Dollars onto Thin Ice: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the Bearded Ladies Cabaret a $10,000 grant to support a cabaret show on ice skates focused on climate change
- Taxpayers Get Spun: The Department of State (DOS) allocated $32,596.12 for breakdancing
The report includes details for each piece highlighted in this year’s list of grievances. For example, it is true that the Department of State (DOS) spent $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security, all while the Biden-Harris administration willfully continued to ignore issues related to the porous southern border in the United States, with roughly 250,000 encounters with illegals on the Mexican border in December 2023 alone, per the report.
The waste report put this particular use of taxpayer dollars this way: “It’s like watching your house catch fire, and instead of calling the firefighters and doing everything to stop the blaze, you decide to head over to your neighbor’s yard to mow their lawn and water their plants. The logic is impeccable!”
In another section, the waste report delves into how the government spent precisely $7,026,689 on what is described as “various magical projects.” For one project, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) teamed up with University of North Carolina at Charlotte to offer the podcast, “Magic in the United States,” for the low, low price of $388,863.
“Each episode promises to take us on a historical rollercoaster through the spells, superstitions, and ‘magico-religious’ movements of America’s history,” per Paul’s report.
It does not end there, either. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $94,006 to study The Magic School Bus, and the Department of Defense (DOD) spent $6,293,820 on “a Magic City Discovery Center.”
Other highlights include the Department of Energy (DOE) spending $15.5 billion to push electric vehicles (EVs) on the American people — even though they do not want them — and the Department of the Interior (DOI) dropping $12 million on a pickleball complex in Las Vegas.
Paul’s Festivus report, which should attract even more interest this year given the popularity of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also highlights the feds wasting $10 billion on “maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings.”
I was a one-man @DOGE before @DOGE was a gleam in the eyes of amped-up tech executives, and new media barons got behind the idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy they're here. I passed along 2,000 pages of waste to @ElonMusk and @VivekGRamaswamy in the interest of curbing…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
“Most federal offices are ghost towns, with 17 out of 24 agencies using only 25 percent or less of their space in 2023. Even the busiest offices barely reach 50 percent capacity,” the report reveals.
“This problem predates the pandemic, but COVID-19’s telework boom made it worse. These buildings were underused even before we all learned how to unmute ourselves on Zoom,” it adds.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also dropped half a million to see if lonely rats want cocaine more than happy rats.
Read the entire report here.
