As part of my commitment to question how Washington spends your money, this is one of many in a series of oversight reports on federal agencies. I hope agencies and other congressional committees alike will welcome this oversight and work with us to help identify even more areas of waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as new ways to better prioritize our nation’s limited financial resources.
These oversight efforts are meant to shed light on various challenges facing the federal government that should be addressed by agency management and congressional oversight. In light of the government’s incredible size coupled with what seems to be disinterest in oversight, Congress has failed to prioritize spending and require measurable results from those entrusted with billions of your hard-earned tax dollars. I believe that you, the American taxpayer, deserve better.
As President Lincoln said, we are a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” and to uphold that principle we need your help. As part of my ongoing effort to shine the light on the federal government, I encourage anyone with examples of government waste, fraud, or abuse to let us know about it.
To submit a tip (anonymously, if you wish) through the Internet, please visit my tip page by following this link.
This report discloses 100 of the worst examples of waste in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus bill. The projects included in the report – worth $5.5 billion – range from Maine to California, and even two from the state of Oklahoma. Among the worst are a tunnel for turtles, a guardrail for a non-existent lake and repairs for bridges that are barely used. (Direct link to report)
It is no day at the beach for American taxpayers when billions of dollars worth of sand projects go out with the tide. Yet, in his oversight report “Washed Out to Sea, How Congress Prioritizes Beach Pork Over National Needs,” Senator Tom Coburn details just how beachfront communities, D.C. lobbyists, and Members of Congress have teamed up to “save” beaches with federally funded sand – an effort that always results in additional requests for sand projects in the future. (Direct link to report)
With billions of taxpayer dollars spent on low-priority and questionable projects, 2008 was a banner year for wasteful Washington spending. 2008: The Worst Waste of the Year highlights more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding that Washington bureaucrats and politicians wasted on more than 60 examples of waste: everything from an inflatable alligator to training for casino workers to an unsuccessful search for Alaskan ice worms and extraterrestrial life forms. (Direct link to report)
There is extensive waste and mismanagement at the Department of Justice, costing taxpayers more than $10 billion. Examples include excessive junkets to conferences, bureaucrats skipping work for hundreds of weeks without leave, misplacing and losing hundreds of laptops and dangerous weapons, supporting groups with terrorist ties, hobnobbing with Hollywood producers, funding duplicative and unproven recreational activities, and improperly managing thousands of grants. (Direct link to report)
AWOL is the general term given to hours during which an employee is absent from his or her job without permission. This can range from simply being late to work, to not showing for months at a time. Between 2001 and 2007, the number of work hours lost to AWOL employees rose steadily. In total, there were nearly 20 million AWOL hours in just seven years across 18 departments and agencies. (Direct link to report)
The HIV/AIDS conference has become very popular on the federal employee “conference circuit.” Uncle Sam planned to spend almost half of a million dollars to send over 100 federal employees to the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, which ran from August 3 through August 8, 2008. According to new reports, conference organizers expected the event to cost $25 million and attract 22,000 delegates and conference goers. (Direct link to report)
Federal agencies have increasingly come under scrutiny for their lavish spending on conferences, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not an exception. USDA recently reported to Congress that it spent $19.4 million on conferences in 2006—almost tripling the amount it spent in 2000. There are approximately 112,000 employees at USDA, and in 2006, the Agency sent 20,959 employees to 6,719 conferences and training events across the nation and around the world. (Direct link to report)
“CDC Off Center” is a 115-page oversight report examining how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tilted off center. The report makes recommendations about how the CDC might get back on track. The American people expect CDC to spend its $10 billion budget treating and preventing disease and dealing with public safety threats, including the threat of bioterrorism. Instead, CDC has spent hundreds of millions of tax dollars for failed prevention efforts, international junkets, and lavish facilities, while failing to demonstrate it is controlling disease. (Direct link to report)
Senator Tom Coburn's Oversight Action
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
