Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., released his annual “Festivus” report on Tuesday where he cited more than $1 trillion in government waste for 2024.
Paul’s yearly accounting of frivolous government spending is a scathing editorial of the absurd federal projects done under the guise of the fictious holiday made popular by a classic “Seinfeld” episode.
One aspect of participating in “Festivus” is the airing of grievances, as Paul states, “I have a lot of problems with federal spending, and now it’s time to hear all about them!”
The Kentucky Republican began his report by highlighting President-elect Donald Trump surviving two assassination attempts and then mocked the "woke" antics at the Summer Olympics in Paris. Paul noted that the national debt increased $2 trillion in 2024 to a current figure of $36 trillion and is on pace to increase at least $2 trillion every year for the next decade.
“This year, I am highlighting a whopping $1,008,313,329,626.12,” Paul wrote in the report. “That’s over $1 trillion in government waste, including things like ice-skating drag queens, a $12 million Las Vegas pickleball complex, $4,840,082 on Ukrainian influencers, and more! No matter how much money the government has wasted, politicians keep demanding even more.”
Paul expressed his support for the new initiative to eliminate government waste led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy writing: “As always, taking the path to fiscal responsibility is often a lonely journey, but I’ve been fighting government waste like DOGE before DOGE was cool. And I will continue my fight against government waste this holiday season.”
While hundreds of millions was listed in misused COVID PPP funds, some of the more ludicrous government programs called out include The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spending $419,470 to determine if lonely rats seek cocaine more than happy rats, $3 million on “girl-centered climate action” in Brazil, $288,563 to create safe spaces for bird watching groups, and $123,066 to teach youths in Kyrgyzstan how to “go viral.”