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2024 Festivus: Sen. Rand Paul Exposes Over $1 Trillion in Waste

2024 Festivus: Sen. Rand Paul Exposes Over $1 Trillion in Waste

Ice skating drag queens? Influencers? Border security for Paraguay? I have so many problems with the government.

https://youtu.be/VWTaOrgcs24

One of my favorite days of the year! Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) issued his annual Festivus Report.

Our national debt is $36 trillion. We might add $2.1 trillion every year over the next decade.

Stop spending. Stop spending. Stop spending.

Here are a few of the worst:

  • Censoring Non-Leftist Media: $330,000 from State Department
  • IRS Test to Prepare Taxes: $15,000,000 from Democrats
  • Influencers: $4,840,082 from the Department of State
  • “Girl-Centered Climate Action” in Brazil: $3,000,000 from the Department of State
  • Las Vegas Pickleball Complex: $12,000,000 from the Department of the Interior
  • Ghost Buildings: $10,000,000 from the entire government
  • Kids & Facebook Food Ads: $2,000,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • Electric Vehicles: $15,500,000 from Department of Energy
  • Failed Trucking Company: $700,000,000 from Treasury Department
  • Magical Projects: $7,026,689
  • Paraguayan Border Security: $2,100,000 from the Department of State
  • Fertilize in Pakistan, Vietnam, Colombia, and Brazil: $20,000,000 from the Agriculture Department
  • Fauci Funded Feline COVID Experiments: $2,240,000 from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and U.S. Department of Agriculture
  • Iraqi Sesame Street: $20,000,000
  • U.S. Navy Failing Vessels: $90,000,000 from U.S. Navy
  • Bearded Ladies Cabaret: $10,000 from National Endowment for the Arts

Censoring Non-Leftist Media

The State Department bankrolls the National Endowment for Democracy, a private foundation. Why?!

Well, that private foundation and the Global Engagement Center gave $330,000 in taxpayer money to the Global Disinformation Index (GDI).

That British organization’s “disinformation index” is filled with non-leftist media outlets, making it hard for them to get advertisers and fairly compete in the market:

These lists were then handed off to Xandr, an advertising firm owned by Microsoft. Xandr and other companies took the bait and refused to place ads on websites that GDI slapped with a “risky” label, according to emails leaked to the Washington Examiner. So, taxpayers footed the bill for an attack on free speech.

Among the ten “riskiest” outlets identified by GDI are The New York Post, American Spectator, Newsmax, The American Conservative, The Blaze, One America News, The Daily Wire, Reason, RealClearPolitics, and The Federalist. Their crime? Not toeing the line of a particular political narrative.

Meanwhile, left-leaning outlets like The New York Times, HuffPost, NPR, and BuzzFeed, were conveniently labeled as “less risky.”

IRS Test to Take Over Tax Preparation

That stupid Inflation Reduction Act gave the IRS $15,000,000 to see if that evil agency could take over tax preparation.

Yes, who trusts the IRS to prepare, file, and audit your taxes?!? I’d trust Satan more. Oh, wait. Same thing. NEVER MIND:

According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, only 12% of taxpayers were eligible to use the Direct File Pilot program, which could cost up to $249 million a year. Burning $15 million to study a system that already exists in the private sector and is free to use? Sounds like classic government waste.

But wait, there’s more! Not only does Direct File create an unholy amalgamation of IRS tax authority, it’s also unconstitutional! The IRA only allowed for a study, but the IRS jumped the gun, developing the system without Congressional approval.

Empty Government Buildings

Why do we pay $10,000,000 to operate mostly empty government buildings?

That includes $237,960 for solar-powered picnic tables:

Most federal offices are ghost towns, with 17 out of 24 agencies using only 25% or less of their space in 2023. Even the busiest offices barely reach 50% capacity. This problem predates the pandemic, but COVID-19’s telework boom made it worse. These buildings were underused even before we all learned how to unmute ourselves on Zoom.

In addition to the whopping $2 billion annual maintenance cost, the federal government is spending $5 billion on leases. This isn’t a new issue either. In a 2022 waste report, I noted the government spent $1.7 billion on 77,000 empty, unused properties.

Electric Vehicles

Do not touch my gas vehicle. I love my Toyota 4Runner.

Leslie has always done a great job keeping us updated on the Energy Department’s crusade to force us to drive electric vehicles:

Despite the problems with all the vehicles and losses by the auto companies, the Biden administration gave the automakers $12,000,000 to make more electric vehicles.

The department has $3,500,000 to give “to expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for EVs and the U.S. grid.” But, um, most materials to make the batteries come from overseas!

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Comments

I agree with a vast majority of the list but fertilizers aren’t waste the loss of rainforest is real and is something that can only be avoided if farmers have the option of continuing to profitably use the land they have instead of cutting down rainforest.


 
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scooterjay | December 23, 2024 at 4:23 pm

All I got for my ten grand was a cabaret of bearded women?
I feel so depressed.


 
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scooterjay | December 23, 2024 at 4:25 pm

Iraqi Sesame Street. I’ll bet that is a hoot!


 
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rhhardin | December 23, 2024 at 4:29 pm

The point is that 10% of all the money flows are skimmed in the form of corruption. What the 90% is spent on isn’t a consideration in designing programs.

My basic cuts to the Federal Spending are: 1) UN to $1 per year, 2) No money to any foreign government or group, 3) No money to any NGO, 4) cut all politicians and staff 10%, 5) eliminate movement of any government person to similar private sector job for 7 years.


 
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Virginia42 | December 23, 2024 at 4:57 pm

I am the count…I love to count virgins!


 
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ThePrimordialOrderedPair | December 23, 2024 at 5:35 pm

A trillion is nothing. There is the TWO TRILLION DOLLARS in “emergency” COVID spending from 2020 that has never come off the books. That is TWO TRILLION DOLLARS of completely unnecessary expenditures, aside from all the normal federal spending. That TWO TRILLION DOLLARS should come right out with no problem. Now, on top of that, there is easily a trillion in insane waste, graft, and fraud. Easily.

But that extra TWO TRILLION DOLLARS in emergency spending from 2020 should be a no-brainer to just stop. And that would kill the deficit in a year. Strange, huh …

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