Wastebook 2010
Tom Coburn has released "Wastebook 2010", a report detailing some of the ways in which Congress spends taxpayer money. Some of it would be amusing, if it were not so damn infuriating, The absolute carelessness with which our Representatives use tax dollars is reprehensible. Below are a few of the pet projects Congress has funded. As you go through these, ask yourself how these projects are stimulating our economy, and if what they are spending your tax dollars on is even the responsibility of the Federal Government.
- Upkeep for Unused Monkey House and Other Buildings -
(Department of Veterans Affairs) $175 Million
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spends $175 million every year to
maintain hundreds of buildings it does not use, including a pink, octagonal
monkey house in Dayton, Ohio.
- Sprucing Up Apartments Before They Are Torn Down -
(Shreveport, LA) $1.5 Million
The city of Shreveport, Louisiana misspent $1.5 million in stimulus funds on mold
remediation for a housing complex it was considering for demolition, according to
a federal audit.
- Closed Park Receives “Green Improvement” Funds for Unused
Building - (Elverta, CA) $440,000
A ranch house in a closed park that has been unused for a decade has received $440,000
for green energy upgrades.
- Studying Male Prostitutes in Vietnam - (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
$442,340
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent nearly $442,340 million to study the number of male
prostitutes in Vietnam and their social setting.
- Another Bridge to Nowhere - (Hillsborough, NH) $150,045
Federal stimulus funds totaling $150,045 were paid to preserve and resurface an 1860 New Hampshire bridge that does not connect to any roads and ends in an eight-foot drop.
- Party Time at the FAA - (Atlanta, GA) $5 Million
―"It beats being at work!" glowed one Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
manager at a taxpayer-funded conference last December. The FAA spent $5
million to send 3,600 employees to a "conference" in Atlanta, although "whistleblowers and critics
say [the conference] was little more than an excuse to throw a three-week-long Christmas
party."
- Teaching South African Men How to Wash Their Genitalia -(Los Angeles, CA) $823,200 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) secured a grant for $800,000 in stimulus
funds to study the effects of a genital-washing program in Orange Farm, South Africa.
These are but a few of the examples of the type of stewardship that our government shows with the money they collect from us through taxes.
Read the Senator Coburns entire report.
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