Sen. Tom Coburn’s report lists wasteful government spending ~ Oklahoma U.S. senator’s report cites federally funded study on why politicians are vague.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Coburn on Monday released his list of the federal government’s most wasteful spending of the year, such as a $217,000 study on why political candidates are vague.

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Sen. Tom Coburn’s report lists wasteful government spending

Coburn, R-Muskogee, whose office regularly churns out reports mocking federal projects and programs, said Monday that “cutting wasteful and low-priority spending from the budget is not only sensible, but essential.”

“In today’s economy, we can’t afford to spend nearly $2 million to showcase neon signs no longer in use at Las Vegas casinos; nor can Congress and federal agencies afford to spend nearly $1 billion a year on unnecessary printing costs.”

The 100 projects cited on Monday tread some familiar ground for Coburn reports — road signs paid for with stimulus funds, research projects that sound like folly — and are mostly domestic. There is no mention of Iraq or Afghanistan, despite government reports documenting millions lost to fraud and waste.

Topping Coburn’s list is the conclusion of a FOX News story that the Department of Veterans Affairs spends $175 million each year to maintain buildings it can’t use, in some cases because they’re in such disrepair.

Other items on the list:
• $217,000 for a University of California and Stanford University study on when and why political candidates are ambiguous.
• $90,000 to fund promotion of the Vidalia onion, including $60,000 for a campaign timed to coincide with the release of a Shrek movie.
• $2.5 million on the Census Bureau‘s television ad that aired during the Super Bowl to promote the head-count but left many viewers scratching their heads in confusion.
• $465,000 for an international AIDS conference in Austria.
• $35 million paid in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims to an alleged Armenian crime ring.
• $48 million for a streetcar system in Atlanta that runs the same route as the city’s subway system.
• $900,000 to settle sexual harassment claims against a former housing director in Philadelphia.
• And $28 million to print “rarely used” paper copies of the Congressional Record.