WASHINGTON – While the White House and Congress griped this year about the pain of automatic budget cuts, the federal government still managed to spend billions of dollars on seemingly frivolous projects – from a $384,989 grant for Yale University to study the duck penis to $1.9 million for “lifestyle” lessons for Senate staffers.
Nearly $30 billion in questionable federal spending is detailed in the “Wastebook” that was released Tuesday by the Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who annually compiles the report.
“Washington has reversed the wisdom of the old cliché that less is needed when less is wasted,” Coburn wrote in the report. “Every branch of government bickered this year over the need to spend more (while continuing to misspend) with an attitude of ‘waste more, want more!’”
Near the top of the report’s list of 100 wasteful projects was $319 million initially spent building the defective ObamaCare Web site, coupled with a $684 million ad campaign to get Americans to visit it.
Taxpayers also got stuck with the bills for:
- $10 million for National Guard advertising tie-ins with the “Soldier of Steel” movie, despite budget cuts reducing the Guard’s strength by 8,000 soldiers.
- $7 billion for the Pentagon to destroy vehicles and other military equipment used in wars in the Middle East rather than sell or ship the items home.
- $17.5 million for special tax exemptions for Nevada brothels, including tax deductions for groceries, wages for prostitutes, rent and utilities.
- Nearly $1 million since 2010 for the National Endowment of Humanities “Popular Romance Project,” which studies romance novels, films, comics and Internet fan fiction.
- $630,000 spent by the State Department to buy followers on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.
- $325,525 for a National Institutes of Health study that found wives would be happier if they could calm down faster during arguments with their husbands.
- $150,000 to support the Puppets Take Long Island festival in Sag Harbor.
“When it comes to spending your money, those in Washington tend to see no waste, speak no waste, and cut no waste,” said Coburn.