$17 Billion To Baltimore

Last year, Baltimore received 17 billion dollars from the federal government. Where did that money go?

Mueller Investigation Costs

According to biannual reports released by the special counsel’s office, Mueller and his team spent $12.3 million in direct spending between his appointment on May 17, 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018. The office also said it incurred $12.9 million in “indirect” Justice Department spending, a category it described as “neither legally required” for disclosure, nor reported in filings by previous special counsels.

On average, the office spent roughly $8.4 million per each six-month period. If the final statement -- which has still not been released -- remains on par with previous costs, total spending from the investigation is expected to reach $34 million in both direct and indirect spending.

2019 Congressional Pig Book

The 2019 Congressional Pig Book has unearthed 282 earmarks costing taxpayers $15.3 billion in the appropriations bills funding the federal government in fiscal year (FY) 2019. The cost is more than half of the record of $29 billion in earmarks set 13 years ago – an ominous uptick in congressionally-directed, special interest spending. This also marks the seventh time that members of Congress violated the earmark moratorium adopted in FY 2011 in order to waste vital taxpayer dollars on parochial and non-essential pet projects.

Among the egregious examples of pork-barrel waste highlighted in the 2019 Pig Book are $13.8 million to manage wild horses and burros, $9 million to quarantine fruit flies, and $863,000 to eradicate brown tree snakes in Guam.

Wasteful Taxpayer-funded Congressional Travel

Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, has an excellent article on how politicians waste taxpayers' money by using luxury military aircraft for their junkets. As an example, in 2010 Nancy Pelosi’s jet travel cost the Air Force $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.

One trip traveling through Tel Aviv, Israel, to Baghdad, Iraq, May 15-20, 2008, included members of Congress and their spouses and cost $17,931 per hour in aircraft alone. Purchases included: Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, Corona beer and several bottles of wine.

Shutdowns aside, given that our national debt is nearly $22 trillion, it might be reasonable to ask members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to forego both the booze and the frivolous junkets.

San Francisco Poop Patrol

San Francisco has assigned six city workers to pickup human waste in the city. These "Poop Patrollers" will earn $71,760 a year, which swells to a value of $184,678 with mandated benefits, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Who, other than government funded by taxpayers, would pay this kind of money for someone to pickup poop?

$14.7B Pork-barrel Spending

A watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste, on Wednesday released its annual Congressional Pig Book of what it considers the most egregious examples of pork-barrel spending in Congress, drawn this time from fiscal year 2018 appropriations bills. According to the group, earmarks in 2018 totaled $14.7 billion, an increase of 116.2 percent from $6.8 billion in 2017.

EPA paid $1,560 for 12 fountain pens

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/01/politics/pruitt-epa-pens/index.html

$17 Million Russian Probe

Taxpayers have spent nearly $17 million on the Russia probe since Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the investigation last year, according to a new spending report released Thursday by the Justice Department.

More Government Waste

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/05/03/just-how-much-federal-waste-duplication-and-weird-or-unnecessary-spending-are-your-tax-dollars-funding.html

Clinton Cash Documentary Movie

Clinton Cash investigates how Bill and Hillary Clinton went from being “dead broke” after leaving the White House to amassing a net worth of over $150 million, with over $2 billion in donations to their foundation. This wealth was accumulated during Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as US Secretary of State through lucrative speaking fees and contracts paid for by foreign companies and Clinton Foundation donors.

$5.5 million in unallowable Medicaid payments made to dead people in Texas

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/06/5-5-million-in-unallowable-medicaid-payments-made-to-dead-people-in-texas.html

100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball

An $85 million loan for a hotel complex in Kabul, a billion dollars in missing equipment for Iraqi forces and a $30,000 grant to stage “Doggie Hamlet” are just a few examples of the “Federal Fumbles” a Republican senator has flagged in a new report on wasteful government spending. The 86-page report from Sen. James Lankford identified $437.6 billion in “wasteful and inefficient” federal spending.

Taxpayer piggy bank lets Congress settle sexual harassment cases in secret

The Washington Post, which first reported on the fund, found that between 1997 and 2014, $15.2 million was paid out to 235 claimants. For more info visit http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/10/taxpayer-piggy-bank-lets-congress-settle-sexual-harassment-cases-in-secret.html

Obama's EPA spent $690,000 on parking spots no one used

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/09/obamas-epa-spent-690000-on-parking-spots-no-one-used.html 

Congressional Investigations

Congress spends untold millions of dollars on congressional investigations (primarily, for the purpose of trying to incriminate each other's party) with little or nothing to show for it. The Whitewater investigation involving Bill and Hillary Clinton was $70 million. Hillary's E-mail server issue has been estimated at roughly $20 million. The most recent Benghazi probe is known to have cost $7 million and that does not include the State Department spending $14 million and the Department of Defense $2 million just defending themselves. Who knows what the current Russian investigation will cost?

The end result is that almost no one is ever fired from a government job or goes to jail. The only winners have been the lawyers. Money that could have gone to helping the poor, improving education or reducing the national debt has been wasted solely for political purposes.