Binge-drinking ferrets and dogs on cocaine in $1.6trn US ‘government waste’ list

Senator Rand Paul has published his annual Festivus report detailing wasteful spending and record debt payments

The US government has spent over $1.6 trillion this year on wasteful programs, such as teaching ferrets how to binge-drink alcohol and dosing dogs with cocaine, according to Senator Rand Paul’s latest annual ‘Festivus Report’.

The Kentucky Republican’s 2025 edition notes a total of $1,639,135,969,608 in waste, including $1.22 trillion spent on interest payments for the US national debt, which has reached nearly $40 trillion.

Specific expenditures criticized include $2.1 million for researchers to collect saliva samples and survey partiers at EDM festivals in New York City about drug use. The National Institutes of Health spent $5.2 million to dose dogs with cocaine, while over $13.8 million funded experiments on beagles.

Other highlighted projects involve $14.6 million to make monkeys play a ‘Price Is Right’-inspired video game, a process that involved screwing metal headposts into the animals’ skulls. The Department of Veterans Affairs spent $1 million on a study where teenage ferrets were forced to consume alcohol.

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The report also targets diversity and foreign aid spending. It notes $3.3 million granted to Northwestern University to erect “scientific neighborhoods,” install “safe space ambassadors,” and form committees to “dismantle systemic racism.” The State Department also spent $244,252 to produce a children’s television cartoon in Pakistan about climate change.

Paul also criticized ineffective Covid-19-related spending, including over $40 million paid to social media influencers to promote vaccination among minority groups. USAID, which was dismantled by US President Donald Trump in the summer, also reportedly spent $54 million to collect and send bat coronavirus samples to Wuhan for gain-of-function experiments.

He further noted that from a $7.5 billion allocation under former President Joe Biden to build 500,000 electric vehicle chargers nationwide, only 68 stations are actually operational.

A number of the programs mentioned by Paul were approved under Biden. Paul noted that while Trump has since cut down on foreign spending, it’s still “just a drop in the bucket,” accusing Congress of “shoveling money toward pet projects and special interests” at the expense of American taxpayers.