Festivus Report (Airing Of Grievances) On Government Waste Released For 2025 From Sen. Rand Paul

Dr. Paul Releases 2025 ‘Festivus’ Report on Government Waste

Editor’s note: We last published the Festivus Report on Government Waste in 2022 by Sen. Paul.  Many of the grievances are the same, with some new ones being added this year.  Many of the wasteful spending this year was on cruel animal experiments on monkeys, dogs, ferrets, and other animals, including illegal gain-of-function research such as brought Covid-19 onto the world stage. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released his 2025 “Festivus” Report, totaling $1,639,135,969,608 in government waste.

This marks Dr. Paul’s eleventh edition of the Festivus Report as he continues working to alert the American people to how their federal government uses their hard-earned money.

Some of the highlights include cash going toward experiments teaching ferrets to binge drink alcohol and dosing dogs with cocaine (again). It wouldn’t be a Festivus Waste celebration without mentioning the $2.1 million spent for researchers to collect saliva samples and survey partiers at EDM clubs and festivals in New York City about their drug use. White Coat Waste helped us uncover hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars funding labs, gain-of-function research, and brutal experiments on dogs, monkeys, and rats. That includes over $13.8 million on beagle experiments, $14,643,280 to make monkeys play a “Price Is Right”-inspired video game, and so much more. Year after year, Washington continues to waste taxpayer dollars, adding $1.2 trillion in interest payments alone, to the national debt.

You can find Dr. Paul’s 2025 Festivus Report here.

“No matter how much taxpayer money Washington burns through, politicians can’t help but demand more. Fiscal responsibility may not be the most crowded road, but it’s one I’ve walked year after year — and this holiday season will be no different. So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (Spending) Grievances,” said Chairman Rand Paul.

Here is the list from the report for 2025:

• Tik Tok Therapy: Fighting Drugs with Influencers: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is spending $1.5 million on an “innovative multilevel strategy” to reduce drug use in ‘Latinx’ communities through celebrity influencer campaigns.

• Cartoon Climate Crusaders in Pakistan: The U.S. Department of State gave $244,252 to Stand for Peace in Islamabad to produce a television cartoon series that teaches kids in Pakistan how to fight climate change.

• Lights, Camera, Diplomacy?: The U.S. Department of State spent $1.5 million to promote American films, television shows, and video games abroad.

• Weight Loss by Wi-Fi: HHS is spending $1.9 million on a “hybrid mobile phone family intervention” designed to reduce childhood obesity among Latino families in Los Angeles County.

• More COVID Panic Theatre: HHS spent over $40 million on influencers to promote getting vaccinated against COVID-19 for racial and ethnic minority groups.

• Doomscrolling Studies: HHS is giving $2.9 million to University of Michigan to study the effect of screen time on parent-child relationships.

• Make Vegetables More Inclusive: USDA spent $141,517 to create a ‘resilient and equitable’ local food network that prioritizes culturally relevant food for low-income LGBT people of color from the Bronx and Brooklyn.

• On the Operating Table: HHS spent $6.9 million using data to analyze and model trauma and surgery outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Woke U: HHS gave $3.3 million to Northwestern University so they can hire 15 people, erect “scientific neighborhoods,” install “safe space ambassadors,” and form endless committees to “dismantle systemic racism.”

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• Bears, Drag Queens, and Bureaucracy: HHS spent $936,000 on marketing campaigns, advisory boards, and engagement strategies targeting niche subcultures in Los Angeles—specifically the “bear/cub,” “drag queen,” and “queer punk rock” scenes—about STD testing and treatment capacity.

• Saliva Swabs and Sandstorm: HHS spent $2.1 million for researchers to collect saliva samples and conduct surveys at EDM clubs and festivals in New York City about drug usage.

• Pandemic Profiteering: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) gave EcoHealth Alliance $54 million to collect bat coronaviruses and transport them to Wuhan for gain-of-function experiments.

• Fauci’s Beagle Labs Live On: NIH extended funding for Dr. Fauci’s beagle experiments, costing taxpayers $13.8 million.

• Coked-Up Canines Redux: NIH spent $5,215,216 to dose dogs with cocaine. Again.

• Ferrets on a Booze Binge: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wasted over $1,079,360 teaching teenage ferrets to binge drink alcohol.

• Bird-Brained Spending in China: The Biden U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded a $1 million collaboration to soup up bird flu viruses with the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s parent organization and a researcher affiliated with WIV.

• Press Start to Waste: The National Science Foundation (NSF) spent $497,200 on a “Video Game Challenge” for children.

• The Price is Wrong for Monkey Plinko: NSF and other federal agencies paid $14,643,280 to make monkeys play a “Price Is Right”-inspired video game.

• Marine Mammal Money Pit: The Department of Defense (DOD) is spending an estimated $77 million a year on an unnecessary dolphin training program that Congress won’t let end.

• Grants for Guatemalan Gender Bending: USAID squandered $2 million for “gender-affirming care,” activism, and influence campaigns in Guatemala.

• Bug Buffets: NSF committed $2,494,321 to programs that promote insects as “food for humans.”

• Not the “BLT” You’re Thinking Of: DOD funded $2,818,462 in grants that have paid for aborted human fetal tissue to be implanted in humanized mice.

• $1.22 Trillion (and climbing) in Interest Payments: Americans shelled out $1.22 trillion in FY 2025 to cover the interest on Washington’s maxed-out tab.

• COVID Cash Grab: Schools received nearly $200 billion in COVID relief funds, which was wasted on things like rooms at Caesars Palace, renting out MLB stadiums, and ice cream trucks.

• The Final Frontier of Fiscal Folly: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) paid a $1.8 billion overage for a shuttle that was six years behind schedule and stranded astronauts in space.

• Billions for Chargers, Not Much to Charge: The Biden Department of Transportation (DOT) received $7.5 billion from Congress to fund electric vehicle charger stations nationwide, but only 68 charging stations are up and running.

• Migrant Money Grab: HHS blew through $22.6 billion on migrant programs that paid for things like furniture, car repairs and home down payments, as well as welfare for illegal immigrants.

• A Very Fed Season of Giving… to Wall Street and Foreign Banks: The Fed paid out $187 Billion in Interest on Reserve Balances (IORB) payments last year alone

Banner Image: Festivus Report 2025. Image Credit – Sen. Paul