Waste of the Day: $1.6T in Wasteful Spending in Rand Paul’s “Festivus” Report

Topline: Americans have already turned the calendar to 2026, but it will take years to pay back the debt incurred by the federal initiatives listed in Sen. Rand Paul’s 11th annual “Festivus” report.

Rand Paul details $1.6 trillion in spending he considers wasteful

The report spotlighted $1.6 trillion of what the Kentucky Republican views as wasteful government spending from 2025, such as money for drunk ferrets and Los Angeles’ “bear/cub subculture.”

The dollar total includes $1.2 trillion spent on interest on the national debt and 27 questionable programs that cost $420 billion. 

Key facts: The National Science Foundation spent $2.5 million on programs that promote bug-eating. One recipient, the Center for Insect Biomanufacturing and Innovation, aims to create a “better world” by using insect ingredients as “food for humans.” 

Another $497,000 of NSF funding was spent on its “Video Game Challenge,” which asked kids to design video games about what life might be like in the year 2100.

At the Centers for Disease Control, $936,000 was spent to develop “hip outreach and engagement strategies” for sexually transmitted disease prevention among 13-to-29-year-olds in Los Angeles. According to the grant listing, one target group is the “bear/cub subculture,” a community of gay and bisexual men with large builds and body hair. The city’s “tea party community” and “queer, Latinx punk rock scene” will also receive special attention.  

There was also plenty of cash for scientific studies that have drawn criticism for alleged animal cruelty. The Department of Defense spent $2.8 million on experiments involving “BLT mice,” which are implanted with tissue from aborted human fetuses. The acronym refers to the bone marrow, liver and thymus tissues that are used.

Animal experiments

Other animal experiments included the Department of Veterans Affairs’ $1 million study of “forced binge” days for ferrets, in which animals were given alcohol instead of water for an entire day once a week. The study will determine if ferrets can be used to test chemical weapons, opioids and more.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

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Summary: As we enter another year with an unbalanced federal budget, Paul’s “Festivus” report is a reminder of just how much excess spending fills Washington’s checkbook.

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.