WASHINGTON—Federal officials at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes for Health (NIH) spent an unknown number of tax dollars to put turtles, turkeys, and other animals on treadmills to study how fast they can go, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
“In fact, this wasteful study found that turtles moved at nearly the same pace as dead turtles that were also put on a treadmill,” she said. Researchers used X-rays and other equipment to study the turtles’ bone structures and how they move themselves forward, despite being confined in a shell.
But don’t ask how much the turtles-on-a-treadmill study cost because, according to Ernst, “there is no legal obligation for most federal agencies to publicly disclose the price of government projects, even though the American taxpayers are paying for them.”
The treadmill study was funded via three NSF grants and one from NIH, with the current grant running through January 2021.
“Sunshine Week is celebrated every year in March to remind us of just how important it is to have government transparency, especially when it comes to how tax dollars are being spent,” Ernst said.
Other examples of unnecessary government spending found by her staff included more than $1.4 billion spent each year by federal departments and agencies on advertising and public relations.
- More than a quarter-million dollars for costumed mascots, like Sammy Soil and Milkshake the Cow;
- Nearly $10,000 to produce a Zombie apocalypse survival guide;
- $30,000 for Martian New Year’s Eve parties; and
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars on tote bags, stress balls, fidget spinners, and other trinkets.
Ernst, who is seeking a second six-year Senate term in November, has made a top priority of combating waste, fraud, and corruption in the federal government’s $4.3 trillion annual budget.
- $356 million sitting unused in the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) Presidential Election Campaign Fund.
- $30 million the Department of Defense (DOD) spent buying computer equipment manufactured by Chinese companies that are vulnerable to hacking by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
- $10.6 million in bonuses paid by the Pentagon to a firm that failed to provide essential parts purchased by the government for Air Force and Navy fighter aircraft.
- Ernst supported making permanent the temporary ban the Senate adopted in 2010 on earmarks—spending provisions on particular projects that often benefit family members, friends, and campaign donors of senators and representatives. House Democrats are pushing efforts to bring back earmarks, which were estimated to have cost more than $5 billion annually before the ban.
- Eliminating the federal tax code provision that allows senators and representatives to deduct up to $3,000 from their annual tax bill for living expenses associated with their work in the nation’s capital.
“This will make it impossible for Washington bureaucrats to continue throwing our tax dollars into bottomless money pits without being noticed,” Ernst said during her speech.
That law is aimed at eliminating payments sent by federal agencies to individuals who are unqualified or dead. The committee estimates that the federal government loses more than $151 million every year to such improper payments and overall has lost more than $1.4 trillion since 2003.