WASHINGTON, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - US Senator Tom Coburn unleashed a report, called "Wastebook 2014", which highlights some of the most wasteful government spending of taxpayer dollars, a statement published on Coburn's website said.
"With no one watching over the vast bureaucracy, the problem is not just what Washington isn't doing, but what it is doing. Only someone with too much of someone else's money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up some of these projects," Coburn said in the statement published Wednesday.
The annual report shines a light on $25 billion worth of the government's most wasteful expenditures. Many examples fall into the realm of the bizarre, such as spending $10,000 to watch grass grow, $87,000 on Swedish massages for rabbits and $50,000 on synchronized swimming for sea-monkeys.
Some of the worst offenders are shocking both in their level of incompetence and amount wasted, including $1 billion to destroy $16 billion in unused ammunition and $20 million on paid vacations for "bureaucrats gone wild," according to the report.
Senator John McCain applauded Coburn in a statement released shortly after the Wastebook announcement for underscoring the need to reign in out-of-control government spending. McCain also related the report's findings to the current state of the country's fiscal health.
"Just this month, the Treasury Department announced that the national deficit this year would be 'only' $483 billion. That means the federal government borrowed more than $1,500 for every man, woman and child. Only in Washington would this news be greeted as a reason to celebrate," McCain said.
On October 16, the Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget announced that the US budget deficit for the 2014 fiscal year shrank to a six-year low, which was attributed to a nine percent rise in revenue, combined with only a one-percent rise in spending.