Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Federally Subsidized Pancakes

Topline: Most neighborhoods in America have no shortage of diners and restaurants serving breakfast, so it’s anyone’s guess why the federal government spent $766,000 to open an International House of Pancakes in Washington, D.C. in 2011.

An underserved community for pancakes? Columbia Heights? YGTBK

The grant from the Department of Health and Human Services was meant for “underserved communities,” but an opinion piece from the Washington Examiner noted that the restaurant opened in Columbia Heights, a shopping hot spot and “one of Washington‘s more desirable neighborhoods.” The money would be worth $1.1 million today.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses. 

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.   

Coburn’s Wastebook 2011 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth nearly $7 billion, including the money spent subsidizing IHOP.

Key facts: Most of the grant was awarded to the Anacostia Economic Development Corporation, a company that works to create housing and jobs in D.C. They used $500,000 to buy a 19% ownership stake in the new IHOP as an “equity injection.” 

The remaining $265,000 was spent on consultants and staff training. It remains unclear why the staff could not learn how to flip pancakes without the use of taxpayer money. 

Subsidizing overcharging

The diner is managed by Tyoka Jackson, a former football player for the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Jackson told Just The News he had “great interest” in applying for a federal loan that would be forgiven if it was used to pay workers. If Jackson did accept the loan, it would be the second infusion of federal money into the IHOP.

Critical quote: The Washington Examiner griped,

In this day of anti-obesity crusades, the secretary of Health and Human Services used her own discretionary grant money to subsidize a restaurant that serves two of Men’s Health magazine‘s 20 most unhealthy restaurant dishes.

Summary: The Columbia Heights IHOP charges $18 to order a stack of plain pancakes — hardly affordable for the underserved population its grant was meant to help. Maybe next time there is a way to help out the less fortunate that does not involve maple syrup.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.