Congressional Wasteful Spending in 2012

Congress spend $132 million dollars in 2012 in wasteful spending. Like what you might say?

• In West Virginia, thousands of dollars were spend to reconstruct a historic streetscape… out of Legos.
• More than the $300,000 USDA is spending to tell Americans to eat caviar.
• Out-of-this-world Martian food tasting – (HI) $947,000.
• $2 million in financial assistance provided to cupcake specialty shops.
• An unused Ohio bridge — not even connected to a road or trail — received a half-a-million dollar makeover this year.
• Professional sports loophole – (Taxes) $91 million.
• Junk food, luxury drinks, soap operas, and billions of dollars in improper food stamp payments – (Department of Agriculture) $4.5 billion.
• Oklahoma keeps unused airport open to collect federal checks – (OK) $450,000.
• Moroccan pottery classes – (U.S. Agency for International Development) $27 million.
• When robot squirrels attack – (CA) $325,000.
• Bailed out tourist boat sinking private business – (AK) $3.3 million.
• The government pays as much as $2 million annually in monthly service fees to maintain about 28,000 phantom grant accounts that are empty and have expired.
• A penny made is two pennies wasted – (Department of the Treasury) $70 million. In fact, the cost to produce a penny in 2012 is more than two times its actual value.
• Call me for free, maybe – (Federal Communications Commission) $1.5 billion.
• Powerful routers installed in tiny rural libraries and schools – (WV) $24 million.
• Relive prom week with National Science Foundation video game – (CA) $516,000.
• Pulp and paper companies could reap a $268 million tax windfall by asserting an industrial waste byproduct of the wood-pulping process - referred to as “black liquor” - is actually an alternative fuel.
• Beverly Hills, often noted for its affluence, and the city of Santa Fe Springs will sell $206,426 of their Community Development Block Grant dollars this year to other cities, in exchange for $145,662 in general revenue.
• Russian weapons institutes recruiting new scientists with U.S. funds – (Department of Energy) $15.0 million.
• NASA has been working on a number of out-of-this-world apps, games, and other entertainment programs to beef up its marketing efforts. These efforts will cost taxpayers at least $1.6 million.
• Three Smokey the Bear statues cost taxpayers $13,938 this year alone, and a set of Smokey road signs cost another $4,438. The total spent on these statues, signs, and balloon appearances was $49,447.
• Speed reading faces – (WA) $30,000. A study supported by the National Science Foundation was done to find out if people could determine if someone was gay or not just by looking at his/her face.
• More than $1 billion overpaid annually for products and services – (Government-wide) $1 billion.
• The National Endowment for the Arts has allocated $1 million to organizations throughout the country to “read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from U.S. and world literature.” Perhaps offering the most unique selection of activities is the Shrewsbury Public Library, which received a $10,800 federal grant. The library will host the traditional book discussions, but it will also include “a tour of the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, a ghosts and graveyards tour for teens in Boston, a picket fence decorating contest, an old-fashioned county fair celebration for children, fishing lessons, [and] a performance by a Mark Twain historic interpreter.”
• Nebraska steered $505,000 of Community Development Block Grant  funds provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Inc., which specializes in pet shampoo and toothpaste.

Source: Wastebook 2012 by Senator Tom Coburn, M. D.

Here is another list of wasteful spending: The Waste List.