It’s 2014 and that means since last year billions more taxpayer dollars have been flushed down the toilet on projects and studies that have zero redeeming value. Every year, Sen. Coburn (R-OK) and his staffers release a report showing the truly astonishing ways bureaucrats and politicians in Washington spend your money. This year was no different, of course. Some highlights:
Coast guard party patrols – $100,000Watching grass grow – $10,000
State department tweets @ terrorists – $3 million
Swedish massages for rabbits – $387,000
Paid vacations for bureaucrats gone wild – $20 million
Mountain lions on a treadmill – $856,000
Synchronized swimming for sea monkeys – $50,000
Pentagon to destroy $16 billion in unused ammunition -- $1 billion
Scientists hope monkey gambling unlocks secrets of free will –$171,000
Rich and famous rent out their luxury pads tax free – $10 million
Studying “hangry” spouses stabbing voodoo dolls – $331,000
Promoting U.S. culture around the globe with nose flutists – $90 million
"Synchronized swimming for sea monkeys" and "watching grass grow." This is just a taste of how wasteful Washington is with public money; read the full report here.
“With no one watching over the vast bureaucracy, the problem is not just what Washington isn’t doing, but what it is doing.” Sen. Coburn emphasized in a statement. “Only someone with too much of someone else’s money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up [with] some of these projects.”