One of the wonderful features of Christmas is how different cultures have different ways of celebrating the holiday. If you are Irish, for example, you might go to Midnight Mass or take a plunge for a Christmas Swim. Italians traditionally celebrate Christmas Eve with the insanely delicious Feast of the Seven Fishes (La Vigilia in Italian). Germans are generally recognized as the culture that first brought us advent calendars and the Tannenbaum or Christmas tree (thank you, Martin Luther), but they also brought Krampus Nacht for the naughty children.
If you are an American small government conservative, however, one Christmas tradition you always look forward to is the annual Festivus airing of grievances from Senator Rand Paul. Each year, Paul publishes a report of some of the worst examples of federal government waste ... and calls out his colleagues on both sides of the aisle while doing so.
But Senator Paul may have outdone himself this year. For the first time ever, his Festivus list contains over $1 TRILLION in government waste. That's 'trillion' with a T.
Are you listening, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and DOGE?
It's that time of year again. Happy Festivus! I've got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're gonna hear about it. pic.twitter.com/XHyhyGueTl
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Paul's full report is available here, but his introduction lets everyone know that, as usual, he is pulling no punches.
Last Festivus, we bemoaned the national debt nearing $34 trillion. In just a year, Washington’s career politicians and bureaucrats have managed to push it beyond $36 trillion—unsurprisingly, with hardly a second thought.
Who’s to blame for our crushing national debt? Everybody. This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills, filled with subsidies for underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives. As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates.
The same big spenders teamed up, yet again, to continue sending Americans’ hard-earned money to foreign countries, funding endless wars, all while STILL ignoring our wide-open southern border.
And our mountain of debt will continue to pile even higher. The Congressional Budget Office predicts we will add an average of $2.1 trillion in debt annually for the next decade. According to a July House Budget Committee Report, the U.S. government will add over $6.4 billion of debt every single day for the next ten years, borrowing over $268 million every hour, $4.5 million every minute, and over $74,401 every second.
This year, I am highlighting a whopping $1,008,313,329,626.12. 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.
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.
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Paul noted some of the highlights -- or lowlights, to be more precise -- above, but Eric Daugherty was kind enough to summarize some of the ridiculous spending contained in the report.
🚨 BREAKING: Senator Rand Paul releases his yearly report on government waste - the "Festivus Report."
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 23, 2024
$1 TRILLION. In government waste.
Highlights of INSANE, useless spending:
- $3M for "Girl-Centered Climate Action" in Brazil
- $20M for a new Sesame Street show
- $10K for the… pic.twitter.com/ubQziZ2dc6
Oh, you can bet that tweet continues:
Highlights of INSANE, useless spending:
- $3M for "Girl-Centered Climate Action" in Brazil
- $20M for a new Sesame Street show
- $10K for the "Bearded Ladies Cabaret" for a climate change-focused ice skates show
- $365K for circuses in city parks
- $32.5K for "breakdancing"
- $330K for censoring conservative media
- $720K for conservation of ducks in Mexico
@RandPaul is going to get major backup from DOGE in just a few weeks.
Yikes. Look at all of that. Maybe the Germans need to send Krampus after the naughty adults in Washington, DC.
Speaking of DOGE, Paul didn't back away from telling Musk and Ramaswamy that he would hold them to their pledge.
I was a one-man @DOGE before @DOGE was a gleam in the eyes of amped-up tech executives, and new media barons got behind the idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy they're here. I passed along 2,000 pages of waste to @ElonMusk and @VivekGRamaswamy in the interest of curbing…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Paul concludes that tweet with some light ribbing, saying, 'Now, they don't have to work too hard to find what I've already found.'
He then listed some of his favorites from the list and took the time to throw some shade at Senator Joni Ernst while he was at it.
Here are some of my favorites from this report, soon to become yours, @ElonMusk's, @VivekGRamaswamy's, AND @JONIERNST's. Ok, maybe not hers. I don't know who she thinks she's kidding. She's voted for every spending bill since she got here…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Read more here:… pic.twitter.com/zvzXEFdTwM
OOF. As if Ernst wasn't already in hot water with conservatives. But as we said, Paul does not hold anything back just because someone might have an (R) after their name.
Here are more big-ticket wasteful items Paul released in his report:
- The federal government spent $10 billion on maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings.
- The Department of Energy (DOE) spent $15.5 billion to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don't want.
- The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending $20 million on the Fertilize Right Initiative to advance fertilizer use in Pakistan, Vietnam, Colombia, and Brazil.
- The U.S. Navy is set to waste almost $90 billion on ineffective Navy vessels.
Some more of the smaller, silliest items include nearly $1 million from the State Department to produce films in Jordan, $300,000 from the National Science Foundation for 'affinity group' safe spaces for bird watchers, $7 million across the federal government for magic projects (yes, magic, as in 'Abracadabra,' your tax money is gone), $10 million from the Department of Defense for cat experiments, another $250,000 from the State Department to fight 'misinformation' in Bosnia, and the list goes on for far too long.
The huge dollar figure in Paul's list each year comes from interest on the national debt, which this year accounted for $890 billion in taxpayer money out the window.
Paul's airing of grievances isn't limited to just spending, however. He says every year that he uses Festivus to make enemies and this year was no exception.
What are some of your Festivus traditions? Tell us in the replies! I tried to get feats of strength on the Senate floor as a tradition, but since everyone else is over 80, there weren't many takers.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Quick, who has the higher average age, the Senate or the top touring musical acts of 2024? They have Jagger, Richards, Springsteen, and Dylan, but we have Grassley. It's a tough call.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Ouch.
We are also seeing the end of an era, a new Republican Majority for the first time in nearly a century not led by Mitch McConnell. I don't want to tell Mitch it's time to retire, but his best job offer so far is a reboot of Tales from the Crypt.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
HAHAHAHA.
Hey, maybe we ought to consider term limits, Washington. What do you think?
Shots were fired at Democrats too, of course.
The other Chuck (Schumer) was trying to joke with me the other day that my amendment to fix Social Security got only 3 votes. Well, Chuck, that's 3 more people who won't be sad when you're no longer the leader in January.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
No one will be sad to see Schumer and his raw hamburger grilling photos out of the Majority Leader position.
Trump's new MAHA czar (and HHS Secretary) RFK, Jr. was in for some ribbing as well.
But I can tell you this: He will pry the Diet Coke out of my cold, dead hands.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
And Paul welcomed in new Education Secretary Linda McMahon who has the ideal professional background for Capitol Hill.
Our new Secretary of Education made her money in professional wrestling as Chair of WWE. So Linda McMahon is PERFECT for politics. They are a bunch of overamped loudmouths following their script and pretending they are shocked by the outcome.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
After all of the ribbing (Ted Cruz and Kevin McCarthy got some too), Paul returned to a point about which he is deadly serious.
The power some of us will have must be used for good — like putting Fauci in jail.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Last year, I hoped that Congress would hold Dr. Fauci accountable. Though the House tried, he's still walking around a free man. Well, he's got two new major problems for Christmas this year — I'm the incoming chairman of the Senate HSGAC committee, and I have subpoena power to…
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
The tweet concludes, '... I have subpoena power to force him to turn over everything he's been hiding.'
That Fauci monster who calls himself 'The Science' should probably be getting VERY worried right about now.
Paul promised to return later tonight with more 'airing of grievances, but before he took a break away from Twitter, he did offer one final explanation for why Washington is the way it is.
Of course, evil is only one part of their MO. Some of it is just sheer stupidity.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2024
Embrace the power of 'AND,' Dr. Paul.
The rest of America has.
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