While Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford has his “Federal Fumbles” report where he highlights what he considers to be wrongful government spending, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, another Republican does the same thing with his “Festivus” annual report.
In it, he documented nearly $55 billion in what he labeled “truly outlandish” government waste including energy projects. He found the $55 billion was “totally wasted” and cited such spending as spending $1 million walking lizards on a treadmill. That happened to have been a $1,557,083 project by the National Science Foundation. It was among the projects he cited under Environment.
Fortunately, his list did not include any government projects in Oklahoma.
But here’s what he listed under Environment where the National Science Foundation was a favorite target.
$13,545,889 spent by the Fish and Wildlife Service to fund a Boating Infrastructure Grant Program.
$129,956,620 spent by the Federal Transit Administration to buy public transit buses for localities.
The National Science Foundation’s spending of $199,864 spent on a study how people cooperate while playing e-sport video.
Sen. Paul also cited $57,576.75 spent by the National Park Service to hire “interns’ to do busy work. He also was critical of the $199,995 spent by the National Science Foundation to study how New Yorkers abided by New York City’s COVID lockdowns.
Or the $487,528 spent again by the National Science Foundation to teach students in Washington about disputed climate science. Then there was the $1,304,454 spent by the National Science Foundation to subsidize an insect ranching company.
The National Science Foundation also spent $2,075,074 to develop a wearable headset to track eating behavior. The Foundation also spent $260,000 on a study how food options change when a neighborhood is revitalized.
“Remember this the next time they tell you there’s ‘nothing to cut,’” the Kentucky Republican wrote in a Twitter thread highlighting parts of the report.
Another of his examples was the $182 million in overspending by FEMA on pre-fab housing and water pumps in the state of Texas.
In 2020, “Congress spent as never before, doing so ostensibly without a care,” the report reads. “Some of that is traceable to COVID-related spending, but a lot of it was not.”