Coburn report claims $6.5B in ‘egregious’ 2011 government waste

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Tuesday released an oversight report, “Wastebook 2011” in which he claims to unveil more than $6.5 billion in examples of the "most egregious ways your taxpayer dollars were wasted."

“Video games, robot dragons, Christmas trees, and magic museums," Coburn listed in a statement accompanying the release of the document. "This is not a Christmas wish list, these are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars." 

Among the projects listed as wasteful in Coburn's book are $113,227 for a video game preservation center in New York, $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan, $765,828 to subsidize a “pancakes for yuppies” program in Washington, D.C., and $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.

In his statement regarding the book’s release, Coburn, who is a renowned advocate for fiscal responsibility, pointed out that Congress is currently bickering over extending unemployment while most of these funds were spent with scant discussion or floor debate. 

“Congress cannot even agree on a plan to pay for the costs of extending jobless benefits to the millions of Americans who are still out of work," said Coburn.

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