The introduction to the 7th annual Festivus Report on government waste, reporting over $52billion in wasteful spending according to the “Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee”:
How can 2021 already be coming to a close? What a year it’s been. It seems like just yesterday when the national debt was $20 trillion, but now the U.S. has managed to breeze past $28 trillion! And, it’s safe to say that some big changes have occurred since last year’s Festivus Report.
Mask mandates, travel restrictions and lock-downs were lifted across many parts of the country. President Biden was inaugurated. Inflation has skyrocketed. The Kardashians finally ended their TV show after 14 years. “Dad bod” was officially added to Webster’s Dictionary.
And how about the Federal government? Well, unsurprisingly, it managed to keep spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need. Readers of the Platinum Pig Awards may recall my Penny Plan Balanced Budget. Only a few years ago, we could have balanced the budget by cutting only one penny off every dollar spent by the Federal government – now, we need to cut 5.
2021 began with Congress spending even more money and approving a $3.5 trillion Budget Resolution. I attempted to lessen the blow by introducing a series of 48 amendments, including my Five Penny Plan, which unfortunately did not pass.
The speed in which our debt is growing means we need ever more vigorous solutions to solve this growing problem. You’d almost think the government’s annual New Year Resolution is to spend more and more money. Well, it is!
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects more than $1.2 trillion in deficits for Fiscal Year 2022. In fact, CBO states Congress spent $6.8 trillion in Fiscal Year 2021, $266 billion more than FY2020. Why continue to recklessly spend taxpayers’ money when debt held by the public is already at 103% of GDP?
This year, I am highlighting a whopping $52,598,515,585 of waste, including a study of pigeons gambling on slot machines, giving kids junk food, and telling citizens of Vietnam not to burn their trash.
No matter how much money’s already been wasted, politicians keep demanding even more. But don’t worry, I will continue to fight against government waste.
So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (spending) Grievances! I have a lot of problems with federal spending, and now you’re gonna hear all about them.
You can keep track of my efforts to expose government waste and reform federal spending at https://www.paul.senate.gov/ and https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/etso.
In this report, you will find . . .
• What does government waste mean for you?
• What could the government have paid for instead?
• The Waste of 2021
• Spending Solutions: What’s Sen. Paul been up to this year?
• Sen. Paul’s Platinum Pig Awards for Wasteful Spending for…
o COVID-19
o Afghanistan
o Miscellaneous
See the full Festivus Report here.
Rand Paul is a U.S. Senator from Kentucky.
