Claims of WASTEFUL FEDERAL SPENDING

Claims of WASTEFUL FEDERAL SPENDING

Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and ranking member of the subcommittee on federal financial management, released an oversight report, “2008: Worst Waste of the Year.” Here are examples given in his report:

$188,000 for Lobster Institute in Maine, home of the “LobsterCam.”

$1 million for bike paths along Baton Rouge, La., levees while levees await basic repairs.

$2.4 million for a retractable shade canopy at a park in West Virginia.

$24.6 million for the National Park Service’s 100th year birthday in 2016 — eight years early.

$3.2 million on a blimp the Pentagon does not want.

$367,000 wasted by a Texas school board on items such as an inflatable alligator and under-the-sea water slide.

$5 million for a bridge to a zoo parking lot in St. Louis.

$9,000 for a nonfunctioning airplane-shaped gas station in Tennessee.

$300,000 for specialty potatoes for high-end restaurants, Idaho.

$784,000 for training classes for casino workers in Kansas.

$4 million to renovate Old Tiger Baseball Stadium in Detroit.

$1 million for tennis courts and artificial baseball field turf in New York.

$32 billion, Weed & Seed programs, U.S. Department of Justice grants.

Source: Coburn’s report