Promiscuous Quail

The National Institute of Health gave the University of Kentucky $176,000 to determine if Japanese quail are more likely to have sex when high on cocaine. The study is scheduled to last through 2015.

$300,000 NSF Study

The National Science Foundation provided $300,000 to study the effectiveness of leaders of the European Parliament.

$200 Million Wasted In Iraqi Police Training

A U.S. government watchdog says more than $200 million was wasted on a program to train the Iraqi police force, with security concerns and a lack of interest by the Iraqi government the main culprits for the program's shortcomings. Click here for full report.

Cowboy Poetry

It's hard to recall John Wayne reciting verse in any of the many Westerns he made, but cowboy poetry is a big enough phenomenon to have its own annual celebration. And this year taxpayers helped pay for it courtesy of a $50,000 contribution from the U.S. government.

Dragon Robots for Preschoolers

The National Science Foundation spent $131,000 on robot dragons designed to mimic human responses to help teach preschoolers language skills. Apparently interaction with real humans was deemed inadequate.

$186,966 Phone App

The Department of Agriculture gave $181,966 for Tennessee to develop a smart phone app for special crop producers.

$60,000 To Count Trees

Uncle Sam cut a check for $60,000 to count trees in Henderson, Nevada.

Games To Promote Nutrition

$206,214 went to develop games to promote nutrition.

$100 Million Per Year To OECD

Our federal government sends $100 million to Paris every year to subsidize the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). For more information on the OECD read this article from The Washington Times. Here is a brief excerpt:

"Most Americans probably would not approve of their tax dollars being used to support an international organization that undermines their fundamental liberties and promotes giving their hard-earned money to other governments, often run by corrupt or dictatorial regimes. This is precisely what the OECD is doing, with the blessing of the majority members of Congress."

Government Waste is Alive and Well in West Virginia

In 2009, the state of West Virginia was granted $126,323,296 in stimulus funding for the “West Virginia Statewide Broadband Infrastructure Project” to increase broadband access in public facilities including schools, libraries, and hospitals in what the grant defined as “vastly underserved areas.”  Of this funding, $24 million was used to purchase 1,064 powerful Internet routers capable of supporting thousands of network users.

In a May 8th editorial, The Charleston Gazette suggested that West Virginia “blew $22,600” on each router, “designed to serve entire university campuses or industrial complexes and are installing them in little public institutions as small as rural libraries with just one computer terminal.”  The article also stated that it was later determined “that many West Virginia public facilities already have broadband routers.  So 366 of the costly devices now sit in warehouses, not yet installed anywhere.”  These unused routers worth $8.27 million in taxpayer funding, sit gathering dust somewhere in a West Virginia warehouse.

Trivial Resolutions Come at a High Cost to Taxpayers

The 112th Congress has already introduced more than 1,200 “simple resolutions,” or bills defined by the Senate as those measures “used to express nonbinding positions of the Senate or to deal with the Senate’s internal affairs, such as the creation of a special committee.”  The vast majority of these resolutions have no legislative significance.  Since the beginning of 2011, more than 230 resolutions have been introduced to commemorate specific days, weeks, months, or years.

For example, Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced a resolution designating July 28, 2012 as “National Day of the American Cowboy.”  Other commemorations in July include “World Choir Games Month,” sponsored by Sen. Robert Portman (R-Ohio) and “Collector Car Appreciation Day” on July 13, 2012, sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a resolution expressing support for the designation of a “Worldwide Day of Play.”  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has sponsored five commemorative resolutions since the beginning of 2011, including a resolution designating the first week in May as “National Physical Education and Sport Week.”

Though difficult to calculate, the cost of congressional resolutions is not insignificant.  The Government Printing Office (GPO) is required to provide Congress with 260 copies of resolutions.  The GPO typically prints between 325 and 475 copies of any bill or resolution, not to exceed a cost of $1,200 in either chamber.  According to a June 6, 2012 article appearing in The Daily Caller, the Senate has spent more than $380,000 printing simple resolutions since the beginning of 2011.

In January of 2011, the House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of the STOP Act, a bill that would end the mandatory printing of congressional documents, and provide members of Congress with digital copies.  Republicans estimated the savings to be $35 million over the next 10 years.  Predictably, the legislation is now stalled in the Senate.

The federal government should take a lesson from the private sector, which is rapidly moving away from paper to digital documents.  A congressional shift to digital distribution might also have the added benefit of increasing transparency if these bills were released to the public.  All too often, legislation is publicized in unsearchable formats in the hours leading up to a vote, limiting the public’s opportunity for review.

Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm

The Washington Post has an excellent article on the federal government's farm program which paid $1.3 billion to people who don't farm. Here are some excerpts:

"The payments now account for nearly half of the nation's expanding agricultural subsidy system, a complex web that has little basis in fairness or efficiency. What began in the 1930s as a limited safety net for working farmers has swollen into a far-flung infrastructure of entitlements that has cost $172 billion over the past decade. In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare."

"The Post's nine-month investigation found farm subsidy programs that have become so all-encompassing and generous that they have taken much of the risk out of farming for the increasingly wealthy individuals who dominate it."

$62,000 Wine Promotion

Wine promotion benefited from $62,000 in federal promotional funds.

Pork Barrel Spending

Congress, convincing people once more that they are possibly the worst managers of other people’s money outside of Obama’s Department of Energy, has now found itself in the public ire once more after a new series of reports from the Washington Post. The Post revealed that the earmarking going on inside of Congress wasn’t necessarily done to benefit the greater good of the congressional district but rather to benefit the members of Congress and those connected to them such as the institutions and companies that employ friends and family of the Members of Congress themselves.

According to the Washington Post report, “Some members of Congress send tax dollars to companies, colleges and community groups where their spouses, children and parents work as salaried employees, lobbyists or board members… A U.S. senator from South Dakota helped add millions to a Pentagon program his wife evaluated as a contract employee. A Washington congressman boosted the budget of an environmental group that his son ran as executive director. A Texas congresswoman guided millions to a university where her husband served as a vice president.”

Click here to see a full list of the Congressmen that have frivolously wasted your money for their own private gain for the gain of those close to them.

Your Tax Dollars At Waste

The Government Accountability Office found 1,500 wasteful & duplicative federal programs where taxpayers could potentially save $400 billion per year...

$16.5 Million For Kindles

The U.S State Department has signed a no-bid, $16.5 million contract with Amazon to provide Kindles — 2,500 of them to start — for its overseas programs.

$8.3 Million For Covered Bridges

The Department of Transportation spent $8.3 million to preserve covered bridges.

$150,000 Carriage House Renovation

Salt Lake City received $150,000 to renovate a carriage house.

$126,242 Study of Campaign Websites

The National Science Foundation (yet again!) spent $126,242 on a study of campaign websites.

Mardi Gras Float

The Coast Guard spent $24,450 on a float in the Mardi Gras.

$13 Billion In Duplicative Payments

A new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that the federal government made about $13 billion in duplicative payments to provide health-care services to veterans who were simultaneously enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans from 2004-2009. The study was conducted by researchers at Brown University, VA Palo Alto Medical Center and the Institute for Population Health Improvement at UC Davis Health System. Click here for more information.

$1.35 Million For Barbados

U.S. AID underwrote a $1.35 million “entrepreneurship initiative” in Barbados.

Nontaxpayers

The proportion of those paying no income taxes continues to hit higher highs - a trend that will ultimately make lowering taxes and reducing government impossible. A new study from the Tax Foundation found the number of those filing tax returns who pay no income taxes now numbers over 58 million, amounting to a staggering 41% of all tax returns. Compare that with 1990, when only about 21% of tax returns were found to have no tax liability.

$231 Million Weatherization Program

The Energy Department’s $231 million weatherization program was inefficient, wasteful and duplicative according to the Congressional Budget Office.

GSA Spends $268,000 On One Day Event

The GSA spent $268,000 for a one-day awards ceremony just outside Washington in May 2010. Click here for complete article.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

The federal government paid $136,555 so teachers could retrace the steps of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

GSA Wasting Taxpayer Money Again

In addition to spending $823,000 on a lavish conference in Las Vegas and $330,000 to relocate an employee from Denver to Hawaii, the GSA has spent over $20,000 on cooking classes for employees. Click here for more info.

Another Federally Subsidized Solar Plant Closes

The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility about a year after it opened.

Vermont Farm Marketing

The Agriculture Department devoted $171,050 for a farm marketing effort in Vermont.

$500 Million Medicaid Fraud

Federal prosecutors have charged 48 people in a massive fraud that allegedly bought HIV medications and other prescription drugs from Medicaid recipients and sold them to unsuspecting buyers. The scheme cost tax payers $500 million, prosecutors said Tuesday. Click here for complete article.

More Join Ranks of Disabled, Than Employed

Here’s a grim statistic: in June 2012, more workers joined the Social Security Disability program than got new jobs, according to two new government reports.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 7 that the economy created just 80,000 jobs in June. That same month, according to the SSA, 85,000 workers were enrolled in the disability benefits program.

In fact, according to the website Investors.com, since the recovery officially ended in June 2009, 2.6 million jobs have been created and half-a-million more people than that – 3.1 million – signed up for disability benefits. That means 19 percent more people joined the ranks of the disabled than joined the ranks of the employed.

And, at the end of June 2012, a total of 8,733,461 people were on the ranks of the disabled (via the Social Security Administration disability program), a .3 percent increase over the May figure of 8,707,185. At the end of June 2011, the number of disabled totaled 8,403,449, an increase of 330,012, or 3 percent.

In general, when unemployment is high and jobs scarce, more people attempt to win disability benefits. The number of disabled and in “payment status” first reached the 8 million mark in the second quarter of 2010. Many of these people had the assistance of a Social Security attorney or Social Security lawyer in navigating the often complex process of applying for and obtaining benefits.

In fact, according to statistics from the SSA , between April 2011 and June 2012, there was only one month (November 2011) in which initial applications for disability benefits numbered fewer than 200,000. In June 2012, 274,000 applied for benefits, the third highest in that timeframe. A total of 84,766 people were awarded benefits, an increase of 9.53 percent over May.

Student Social Networking

The National Science Foundation spent $764,825 to study student social networking.

Golf During Work, Hookers, Illegal Gifts

Officials at the agency responsible for protecting the integrity of the nation’s financial system, the U.S. Treasury, have been busted for serious misconduct, including soliciting hookers, violating gift rules and using government credit cards for unauthorized personal charges, according to a scandalous government report made public this month. Click here for more info.

Management of Foreign Forests

The Department of Agriculture spent $9.49 million on a duplicative program in management of foreign forests which even the White House wants to eliminate.

$149,990 Video Game

The National Science Foundation provided $149,990 for production of a guppy-to-fish video game.

Congress Pays $500 Million For Worthless Rocket

Thanks to congressional inaction, NASA must continue to fund its defunct Ares I rocket program until March — a requirement that will cost the agency nearly $500 million at a time when NASA is struggling with the expensive task of replacing the space shuttle. Click here for complete article.

Another Clean Energy Scam

A Baltimore company called Clean Green Fuel found a way to abuse the U.S. ethanol mandate to steal $9 million from the oil industry.

The EPA runs a program that is supposed to ensure 36 billion gallons of biofuels are blended into the gasoline supply by 2022. Every gallon produced earns something called a renewable identification number, or RINs, which are then sold to and traded among refiners and other “obligated parties” to help meet their annual biofuel quotas.

Clean Green Fuel was selling these credits but never producing the underlying gallons. Clean Green Fuels did not even have a manufacturing plant, though it was registered by the EPA as a biofuel producer authorized to generate RINs.

Nor was it alone. In the biodiesel market—whose size is second only to corn ethanol—the EPA itself estimates that some 140 million RINs are fraudulent or otherwise invalid, and the true number may amount to as much as 12% of the biodiesel “supply.”

The EPA, however, maintains a “buyer beware” policy that says refiners are responsible for ensuring they buy good RINs, even if they are purchased in good faith from companies certified by the EPA. After the EPA’s enforcement gumshoes raided Clean Green Fuels and deduced that it was a fraud, they did not notify the companies buying these credits for 15 months.

Then the agency said the companies would have only 14 days to replace the bad RINs. And then it fined 24 businesses for not conducting due diligence. The total cost came to $40 million.

The real failure of oversight is the EPA’s, given that no one would ever buy biodiesel or ethanol in the absence of the mandate that the agency helped to create. Refiners have been ripped off to the tune of $200 million so far by crooks and government fines, which consumers ultimately pay for at the pump.

Brewery Experts To China

Uncle Sam spent $111,000 to send brewery experts to conduct classes in China.

History of Skiing Museum

New Hampshire’s Museum on the History of Skiing received $86,000.

$73,824 For Bed & Breakfasts

The Agriculture Department spent $73,824 to encourage bed and breakfasts to use local produce.

Government Overpaid $14 Billion in Unemployment Benefits in 2011

The U.S. Labor Department reported that federal and state governments combined to overpay jobless benefits by $14 billion. This $14 billion accounts for about 11% of all unemployment spending.

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation

HUD gave $168 million to the federally chartered Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation which was deemed unnecessary and duplicative by the Congressional Budget Office.

Oregon Cheese Guild

The Oregon Cheese Guild received $50,400 to promote cheese.

Aid To Pakistan

U.S. AID devoted $12 million to help the hapless Pakistanis use less energy.

$500,000 Study of Tweets From Twitter

NSF spent nearly a half million dollars to study whether people trust Tweets from Twitter.

Furniture Storage

The IRS used $862,000 to store unused furniture and equipment.

Alaska Podcasts

NSF spent $300,000 for tourism podcasts in Alaska.

Disability Conference

The Veterans Administration spent $221,540 on a conference on disability ratings.

Carriages & Shipwrecks

The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) gave $916,567 to underwrite horse-drawn carriage exhibits and survey shipwrecks in Wisconsin.

$200,000 Study

The National Science Foundation (NSF) used $200,000 to see what the public thinks of politicians and climate change.

$1 Million Website

The Agency for Health Research and Quality spent more than $1 million to get people to visit its website.