Spendopedia

Spendopedia is a Wikipedia-like resource for questionable spending by the United States federal government to which anyone can submit content. It is a project of the Public Notice Research and Education Fund (PNREF), whose mission is to educate and bring awareness to the state and federal economic policies that impact our daily lives. Click here to see their list of government waste.

$34 Million For Unused Building In Afghanistan

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Army indicating that $34 million was spent on command headquarters in Helmand that was never occupied and should have been stopped. Here are some excerpts:

• "I was told by senior U.S. military officials that the recently completed Regional CommandSouthwest (RC-SW) Command and Control Facility, a 64,000 square feet building and related infrastructure with a contract award value of $34 million that was meant to serve as a command headquarters in Helmand to support the surge, will not be occupied. Based on documents provided to SIGAR, it appears that military commanders in Afghanistan determined as early as May 2010 that there was no need for the facility, yet the military still moved ahead with the construction project and continued to purchase equipment and make various improvements to the building in early 2013. Based on these preliminary findings, I am deeply troubled that the military may have spent taxpayer funds on a construction project that should have been stopped."
• "In addition, I was told that U.S. military officials expect that the building will be either demolished or turned over to the Afghan government as our military presence in Afghanistan declines and Camp Leatherneck is reduced in size. Both alternatives for how to resolve this issue are troubling—destroying a never-occupied and never-used building or turning over what may be a “white elephant” to the Afghan government that it may not have the capacity to sustain. Determining all of the facts on how we reached this $34 million dilemma and what can be done to prevent it from happening again is the reason for sending this management alert letter to you."

Click here to see an extensive list of other examples of government waste in Afghanistan.

Rest Easy, Fellow Citizens: The Feds Are On The Case

Here's an excerpt from an article by humorist Dave Barry regarding absurd government actions:

On May 11, two employees of DeBest Inc., a plumbing company, were working at a construction site in Garden City, Idaho, when they heard a backhoe operator yell for help. They ran over, and found that the wall of a trench - which was NOT dug by DeBest - had collapsed on a worker, pinning him under dirt and covering his head.

"We could hear muffled screams," said one of the DeBest employees.

So the men jumped into the trench and dug the victim out, quite possibly saving his life.

What do you think OSHA did about this? Do you think it gave the rescuers a medal? If so, I can see why you are a mere lowlife taxpayer, as opposed to an OSHA executive. What OSHA did - remember, I am not making this up - was FINE DEBEST INC. $7,875. Yes. OSHA said that the two men should not have gone into the trench without (1) putting on approved hard hats, and (2) taking steps to insure that other trench walls did not collapse, and water did not seep in. Of course this might have resulted in some discomfort for the suffocating victim ("Hang in there! We should have the OSHA trench-seepage-prevention guidelines here within hours!"). But that is the price you pay for occupational health and safety.

Unfortunately, after DeBest Inc. complained to Idaho Sen. Dirk Kempthorne, OSHA backed off on the fines. Nevertheless, this incident should serve as a warning to would-be rescuers out there to comply with ALL federal regulations, including those that are not yet in existence, before attempting to rescue people. ESPECIALLY if these people are in, say, a burning OSHA office."

$600,000 Homes For Border Agents

The Department of Homeland Security spent an average of more than $600,000 each to build 21 homes in Ajo, Arizona where most similar-size homes sold last year for less than $100,000. The project cost a total of $13 million, with much of the spending going for appliances, solar panels and paved streets, according to Customs and Border Protection.

"I’d like to know some more details, but, boy, on its face, it looks like a lot of wasted money,” Senator Jeff Flake said. “On its face, how you can justify spending that much money on new housing is beyond me.”

$42.4 Million to Ineligible College

The Department of Education sent $42.4 million to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, despite the fact that the school is ineligible to receive any federal funding. Click here for the Department of Education Inspector General's Final Audit Report.

TN Pork Report Unearths Half-a-Billion Dollars in Government Waste

The Beacon Center of Tennessee today released its eighth annual Tennessee Pork Report, exposing more than $511 million squandered by state and local governments over the past year. The annual report published by the Beacon Center, the state’s leading free market think tank and taxpayer watchdog, is the only one of its kind in Tennessee.

Examples of wasteful spending outlined in the 2013 Pork Report include:

• A corporate welfare deal gone sour, costing taxpayers $95 million after Hemlock Semiconductor closed its plant and laid off hundreds of workers;
• $73 million in improper unemployment benefits, including cash paid to existing state workers and the deceased, of which only $15.3 million has been recouped;
• Wasteful film incentives to Hollywood elites totaling $13.5 million;
• $800,000 to update a study to determine what to do with the vacant State Prison;
• A campaign to urge Tennesseans to eat more beef at a cost of $235,000; and
• An outrageous spending spree by a Rockwood city official, who spent $32,000 on an arsenal of guns, ammunition, cameras, clothes, and testosterone booster.

“Taxpayers will be angered to find out how their state and local officials are spending their hard-earned money,” said Beacon CEO Justin Owen. “Whether it’s Solyndra-like corporate welfare disasters, lavish parties by government agencies, or rampant theft by public officials, this year’s report has it all when it comes to government waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Obamacare Exchange Contractor Target of Major Fraud Investigation

Last week, The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration over the Independence Day holiday quietly awarded “a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion” to Serco, a British company, to help develop the federal insurance exchange. Now comes word from London that Serco is one of two companies under investigation by British authorities for over-billing government contracts.

This billion-dollar contract represents a glaring contradiction in terms—a company under investigation for inaccurate, and potentially fraudulent, bills in Britain being asked to verify the accuracy of Americans’ applications for federal exchange subsidies. Particularly given that the Administration also announced it will rely on the “honor system” for individuals to self-report income to the exchanges next year, this development raises even more concerns about the potential for rampant fraud in Obamacare programs.

The Government Accountability Office found that the administration had spent $394 million on contracts to establish federal insurance exchanges. More than three-fourths of the money went to 10 companies. They include CGI Federal, a subsidiary of a Canadian company, the CGI Group ($88 million); Quality Software Services Inc. ($55 million); and Booz Allen Hamilton ($38 million).

$200,000 for a tattoo removal program

The Tattoo Removal Violence Prevention Outreach Program offers former gang members or anti-socialists the opportunity to have a gang related tattoo removed. While this program’s goals are certainly laudable, tattoo removal should not be the responsibility of the federal government, which is currently under serious financial strain.

The Providence Holy Cross Foundation administers the program and according to its IRS Form 990 it has substantial financial resources. The Foundation reported annual revenue of $2,902,874, cash on hand of $123,987, savings and temporary cash investments of $98,449, and total net assets of over $4 million. This does not exactly paint a picture of a foundation in dire financial need.

According to the foundation’s website, they charge approximately $875-$1,400 to remove a tattoo, ($175/session with it taking 5-8 treatments for complete removal). Based on this information, the $200,000 earmark would only be able to treat 142 patients.

201 IRS employees work full-time on union business

In a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Americans for Limited Government, the Internal Revenue Service revealed this month that 201 of its employees work full-time on union activities. Some boast six-figure salaries, with the highest paid employee on the list earning $138,092.

The IRS is not the only federal agency where many employees spend all their work hours on union business. The Office of Personnel Management revealed that in 2011 — the most recent report available — bargaining employees at all federal agencies spent a total of 3,395,187 hours performing representational work, at a cost of approximately $155 million.

$15 Billion Hole in the Ground

An empty hole in the ground dug at a cost of $15 billion is the very definition of government waste. Yucca Mountain is a nuclear-waste repository built in a desolate area of the Nevada desert that has never been used because of the “not in my backyard” attitude of Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate leader. Nuclear-power plants in the United States have generated about 70,000 tons of radioactive waste, and it has to go somewhere.

The president zeroed out Yucca Mountain funding in 2011 for political rather than technical or safety reasons, according to the Government Accountability Office. Since then, the House has kept the project alive by funding a continuing review of the suitability of Yucca to warehouse spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s 104 nuclear-power plants, currently in storage on the plants’ grounds. A 335-81 vote last month preserved $25 million for the review.

$772M on aircraft Afghans 'cannot operate or maintain'

The chief watchdog for Afghanistan reconstruction warned in a recent audit that the Pentagon is moving forward with a $772 million purchase of aircraft that the Afghan army "cannot operate or maintain." The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction had earlier issued a report in June detailing how "the Afghans lack the capacity -- in both personnel numbers and expertise -- to operate and maintain" existing and planned fleets. Worse yet, the bulk of the purchase is a $554 million contract for 30 Mi-17 helicopters from a Russian firm. They are not even buying American aircraft.

National Historical Park on the Moon

Representatives Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) have co-sponsored H.R. 2617, the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act, to establish the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National Historical Park on the Moon.

H.R. 2617 would “preserve and protect for the benefit of present and future generations the nationally significant historic sites associated with the Historical Park.”  In addition, the bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to submit the lunar landing site to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization for designation as a World Heritage Site.  The costs of the park are not known, but they would likely be out of this world.

While it is typical for members of Congress to imagine themselves with celestial powers, the legality of establishing a national park outside of the United States, let alone on Earth’s largest satellite, is unclear at best.  And the notion of improving upon the moon’s natural preservation facilities, such as having no atmosphere, reveals a level of hubris that only government can deliver.

Drug clinics bilking taxpayers

Click here to read CNN report on fraud linked to California's drug rehab program. Here are some of the highlights:

• Weak, uncoordinated oversight by state and county officials has allowed fraud to flourish in California's drug and alcohol rehabilitation program
• State officials have approved clinic operators who are felons and could be barred under state law
• Even when regulators catch troubled clinics in deceptive practices, they still give them rising sums of money
• State officials in charge of Medicaid have known about the problem for years

Drug Medi-Cal paid out $94 million in the past two fiscal years to 56 clinics in Southern California that have shown signs of deception or questionable billing practices, representing half of all public funding to the program, CIR and CNN found. Over the past six years, more than half a billion dollars have poured into the program statewide.