US President Joe Biden's proposed budget included trillions of dollars in new federal spending and tax hikes. However, a closer look at recent spending shows the federal government's wasteful spending has piled up. According to reports, pandemic relief unemployment spending resulted in taxpayers losing nearly 25% of their funds to waste and fraud.
Larry Turner, the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Labor, revealed in a hearing to Congress that nearly $200 billion out of $900 billion in total federal and state unemployment insurance benefits given out during the pandemic could have been improper payments, most of which was due to fraud.
Several federal spending projects have fallen into political controversy. Some COVID relief funds were used by states to push critical race theory and hire "equity warriors" at schools. Republicans on the House Oversight and Education committees launched an investigation into the matter last fall.
Other spending highlighted in the report included $1.1 billion in taxpayer dollars to help illegal immigrants avoid deportation, $200,000 spent by the Department of Defense on Starbucks espresso machines, and $1.7 billion spent annually to maintain 770,000 empty buildings.
The report has raised concerns about the federal government's lack of transparency in its spending, with many calling for better accountability measures. Senator Rand Paul, who regularly releases his waste report, stated that "Government waste should be a bipartisan issue," and urged his colleagues to address the problem.
The Department of Education has also faced criticism for awarding millions of dollars to a program that trains future educators in critical race theory, a move that Republican lawmakers have widely condemned.
The report has sparked calls for greater scrutiny of government spending, with many calling for overhauling the system to ensure taxpayers' money is used more effectively.
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