Dr. Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky, is slightly famous for his routine “Waste Reports” he publishes. The reports highlight gross misuse of federal tax dollars. Generally, Senator Paul highlights the most absurd, random, and wasteful uses of your tax money. His 2019 Summer Edition of The Waste Report just came out!
Panamanian Frog Mating Calls
In this case, the National Science Foundation (NSF) spent a significant portion of a grant totaling $466,991.68 on studying the mating call of the male túngara frog of Panama.
Yep, nearly half a million bucks on the mating habits of Panamanian frogs. They wanted to know the difference between the mating calls in urbanized areas compared to those in the natural habitat, the forest. Turns out urban life is better for the túngara frog. Now you know!
Green Growth in Peru
Dr. Paul refers to this in his report as the “Peruvian Green New Deal.”
That’s right! USAID is committing “up to” 10 million American taxpayer dollars “to develop new and innovative alliances with the private sector that advance environmentally-friendly economic development (i.e. green growth) in Peru..”
Well, if the Democrats can’t get the Green New Deal passed here, (even though 43 Senate Democrats refused to even vote on it,) may as well implement it somewhere else, no? AOC must be so proud!
Abandoned Mental Hospitals & DHS
“If you want to turn an historical mental institution into a high-tech and secure government facility, you will face a multitude of problems along the way. ”
Over $2 billion in costs is just one of those problems. Well, problem for the taxpayer and the burgeoning debt anyways. Not so much for the GSA and DHS. Since 2005 they’ve been trying to turn an abandoned mental institution into a new headquarters for DHS.
Though certain components of DHS, such as the Coast Guard’s headquarters and the Office of the Secretary of Homeland Security, have finally transferred there, the American people are expected to spend millions more in a project that has become a textbook example of poor government planning – and that is now projected to last until 2026. Rest assured there will be legislative action taken to ensure this boondoggle does not continue to waste taxpayer dollars.
The Grand Poobah!
“Centers for Medicare and Medicaid paid $48,000,000,000.00 in improper payments in Fiscal Year 2018 – paid over $900,000,000.00 in one alleged wide-ranging, multi-year scheme”
What’s 48 billion among friends, anyways?
In Fiscal Year 2018 alone, CMS is estimated to have paid $48 billion in improper payments. 56 This is not any secret, either. CMS’s propensity to make improper payments in part forced the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to deem it a High Risk Program,57 a moniker it has retained since GAO initially imposed it in 1990.58 Over 80 GAO recommendations remain unfulfilled, with 28 recommendations alone made between the 2017 and 2019 High Risk Lists, the last two iterations of the report.
Dr. Paul’s Grand Total of “The Waste Report” for Summer 2019 is $50,190,108,562.35 Taxpayer dollars wasted. Check out the whole report!
Then, in 2020, vote for Representatives and a Senator that will vote to reign in this federal fiscal mismanagement.
