Sen. Paul Releases ‘Festivus’ Report Detailing $900 Billion in Wasteful Spending

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks in Washington on Dec. 20, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released his annual “Festivus” report on Dec. 22, documenting around $900 billion in wasteful U.S. government spending.

The report includes the Treasury Department spending $659 billion to pay interest on the almost-$34 trillion in national debt, $33.2 million in NIH experimenting on monkeys on a South Carolina island, $400.6 million sitting in the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Account, federal taxpayer dollars that those running for the White House can access, and $6 million by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost tourism in Egypt, a U.S. ally.

“What’s next—rebuilding the pyramids?” asks Mr. Paul in the report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture spends part of $1.7 billion annually on walking dogs outdoors in the heat, the report says. 

Moreover, the government allocated $38 million in COVID funding for people who were already deceased.

The military wasted a total of more than $150 million on equipment that was ruined because of improper storage.

The Department of Defense (DoD) purchased an $8,395 lobster tank from a Virginia restaurant equipment company, according to the report.

The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, spent funds on graphic novels about disinformation, according to the report. The report did not make the amounts available.

“Misinformation is not a joke, but it is especially not funny when bureaucrats in the federal government are determining what is and isn’t considered misinformation, all under the guise of protecting Americans,” stated the report.

“Using the tired old trope that, ‘disinformation campaigns are a direct threat to our democracy,’ CISA spent time and money telling people what to believe about COVID vaccines and helping to suppress debate and discussion about the new vaccine technology and its potential side effects.”

Furthermore, the government sent out $236 billion in improper federal payments to Americans—including more than $50 billion in Medicaid payments, almost $22 billion in earned income tax credits, and more than $43.5 in federal pandemic unemployment aid, according to the report.

“Who’s to blame for our crushing level of debt? Everybody,” says Mr. Paul.

“This year, members of both parties in Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling, which empowered the government to borrow an unlimited amount of money until 2024,” he continued in the report. “As Congress spends to reward its favored industries and pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay the price through record-high inflation and crippling interest rates.

“The same big spenders teamed up, yet again, to continue sending Americans’ hard-earned money to foreign countries and funding endless wars, all while ignoring our porous southern border.”