Wastebook 2014: What Washington Doesn't Want You to Read.

By Senator Tom Coburn

October 23, 2014

Gambling monkeys, dancing zombies and mountain lions on treadmills are just a few projects exposed inWastebook 2014 – highlighting $25 billion in Washington’s worst spending of the year.

Wastebook 2014 — the report Washington doesn’t want you to read —reveals the 100 most outlandish government expenditures this year, costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

“With no one watching over the vast bureaucracy, the problem is not just what Washington isn’t doing, but what it is doing.” Dr. Coburn said. “Only someone with too much of someone else’s money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up some of these projects.”

“I have learned from these experiences that Washington will never change itself. But even if the politicians won’t stop stupid spending, taxpayers always have the last word.”

Congress actually forced federal agencies to waste billions of dollars for purely parochial, political purposes.

For example, lawmakers attached a rider to a larger bill requiring NASA to build a $350 million launch pad tower, which was mothballed as soon as it was completed because the rockets it was designed to test were scrapped years ago. Similarly, when USDA attempted to close an unneeded sheep research station costing nearly $2 million every year to operate, politicians in the region stepped in to keep it open.

Examples of wasteful spending highlighted in “Wastebook 2014” include: 

Coast guard party patrols – $100,000 

Watching grass grow – $10,000 

State department tweets @ terrorists – $3 million 

Swedish massages for rabbits – $387,000 

Paid vacations for bureaucrats gone wild – $20 million 

Mountain lions on a treadmill – $856,000 

Synchronized swimming for sea monkeys – $50,000 

Pentagon to destroy $16 billion in unused ammunition -- $1 billion 

Scientists hope monkey gambling unlocks secrets of free will –$171,000 

Rich and famous rent out their luxury pads tax free – $10 million 

Studying “hangry” spouses stabbing voodoo dolls – $331,000 

Promoting U.S. culture around the globe with nose flutists – $90 million 

Read the full report here.