WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) today joined Fox and Friends to open voting in his third annual #Egregious8 tournament, and to unveil WasteLine, Flake’s new initiative to solicit tips on potential government waste. Tips can be left by calling (202) 224-4521 and then pressing 6 or online by clicking the WasteLine icon at flake.senate.gov.
The March Madness-inspired #Egregious8 tournament is the yearly culmination of Flake's ongoing effort to highlight egregious and unnecessary federal spending through his oversight reports – Wastebook: The Farce Awakens, Jurassic Pork and Tackling Paid Patriotism – and his regularly recurring #PorkChops series.
While some projects and practices targeted by Flake in the past year have since been addressed – including eliminating millions of dollars for paid patriotism and freeing billions of dollars tied to old transportation earmarks – others continue to waste taxpayer dollars.
The 2016 #Egregious8 pits eight of those items – including a $707,000 shrimp fight club, a $5 million grant including tailgate packages, and a $2 million effort to build jazz-playing robots – against each other and allow the public vote to advance the project they consider to be the most egregious waste of their tax dollars. First round votes can be cast now on Flake’s #Egregious8 webpage, official Facebook page, and on twitter using #Egregious8. More on this year’s teams below:
2016 #Egregious8 Matchup Summaries:
(#1) NIH Ballin’ Marmosets VS. (#4) NSF Shrimp Fight Club
NIH Ballin’ Marmosets
A study to study marmosets in exercise balls on treadmills…for potential future studies
Funded by: U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Cost to taxpayers: $1 Million
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Monkeys on a Treadmill
Summary: The Southwest National Primate Research Center trained 12 marmoset monkeys to run on a treadmill, just to see if future studies could be conducted with monkeys on treadmills. Specifically, the researchers assert “these techniques should be useful to researchers wishing to address physiological responses of exercise in a marmoset model.”
The monkeys did acclimate to running in the exercise ball on the treadmill, but not without some spills and mishaps along the way. One vomited in his exercise ball while three others “defecated in their exercise ball.”
NSF Shrimp Flight Club
The first rule of Shrimp Fight Club: You do not talk about Shrimp Fight Club funding
Funded by: U.S. National Science Foundation/Smithsonian
Taxpayer cost: $707,000
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Shrimp Fight Club
Summary: Sixty-eight different Panamanian mantis shrimp were pitted in 34 separate contests to fight over an artificial burrow. It took a Duke University graduate student watching more than 30 videos of the recorded fights for him and his professor to conclude “it wasn’t the shrimp who hit hardest who won the bout, but the one who hit the most frequently” to win the match. It’s worth noting that upon learning their study would be included in the 2015 Wastebook, the Duke Research Blog got mad-as-a-mantis-shrimp and penned this fiery preemptive rebuttal. We’re guessing this one tourney the Blue Devils wish they hadn’t punched a ticket to.
DOT Jurassic Porks (VelociRFTA)
Earmarks may be extinct, but this dino-themed pork project is still eating up tax dollars
Funded by: Roaring Fork Transportation Authority
Taxpayer Cost: $36 Million
Alma Mater: Jurassic Pork: Don’t Worry, My Other Ride’s a Dinosaur
Summary: If anyone thinks we’re done paying for earmarks, they ought to take a ride on the dino-themed VelociRFTA rapid transit bus system between Aspen and Glenwood, Colorado. The VelociRFTA – with its Wi-Fi buses and stations, heated sidewalks, dinosaur footprints, and even replica dinosaur eggs – may have been born an earmark, but it has survived just fine in the post-earmark ban world. Since 2010, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, which manages the VelociRFTA, has secured more than $36 million. That should give those calling for a return to earmarking something to chew on.
DHS Shady Coasters
If you see funding, spend funding – even for beer coasters
Funded by: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Taxpayer cost: $2.5 Million
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Suspicious Bar Coasters
Summary: DHS is distributing drink coasters at some bars in the Washington, D.C. area, proclaiming “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING,” urging bar patrons to report anything that may seem suspicious. Nowhere on the coaster, however, is a phone number provided to actually make a report.
When asked about the funding for the coasters, DHS largely evaded the questions. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service said it “didn’t get direct answers” about the funding of the project.
(#1) USAID TRAVELING TERRORS vs. (#4) NIH Wasting Bad
USAID Traveling Terrors
A travel warning didn’t get in the way of this Middle East tourism campaign
Funded by: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Cost to taxpayers: $2.1 Million
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Extreme Tourism
Summary: Even though the State Department is issuing travel warnings for U.S Citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon, the federal government still spent more than $2 million last year to promote tourism to Lebanon in order to boost their local economy through eco-tourism. Rock climbing was included as one of the ongoing USAID-supported projects in Lebanon.
“Through Building Alliance for Local Advancement, Development, and Investment, USAID has provided $1.6 million for rural tourism related activities since 2012, and expects to invest around $1.3 million this year.”
NIH Wasting Bad
Spoiler Alert: Recovering addicts are getting cash bonuses for not doing drugs
Funded by: National Institutes of Health
Taxpayer Cost: $756,002
Alma Mater: #PorkChops: Wasting Bad
Summary: This NIH study was funded so that researches can supplement the paychecks of recovering drug-addicts with taxpayer-funded cash bonuses for simply not doing drugs. The study aims to evaluate the “effectiveness and economic benefits” of wage supplements in promoting employment and reinforcing drug abstinence among recovering drug addicts.
(#2) DOD COST-U-TONS JAZZ vs. (#3) USDA PIG’EM AGGIES
DOD Cost-U-Tons Jazz
These jazz-playing robots are not the droids taxpayers were looking for
Funded by: U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
Cost to taxpayers: $2 Million
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Jazz Playing Robots
Summary: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is spending $2 million to hire a team of musicians and researchers to develop musical machines including robots capable of performing a trumpet solo and jamming with human musicians. The goal is to make computers “more human like” and over the next five years, the team will attempt to develop “a robot that can manipulate musical instruments and accompany human musicians on stage.
USDA Pig’em Aggies
Apparently $5 million puts the “Ultimate” in Ultimate Tailgating
Funded by: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Cost to taxpayers: $5 Million
Alma Mater: Wastebook: Ultimate Tailgating
Summary: University of Nebraska Husker fans tailgating before the football game against the University of Wisconsin Badgers in October scored an unexpected touchdown with the “Ultimate Tailgating Package,” compliments of the USDA. These packages are equipped with “essential tools” including “a koozie to keep your drinks cold, aprons to keep that sauce off your jeans, and a thermometer to be sure your beef is fully cooked in hopes of promoting cookout safety. One hundred of these packages were handed out at the game by the Food Science Club.
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