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Senator Rand Paul dropped his 2025 Festivus Report on December 23, and the numbers should make every hardworking American furious: his office found $1,639,135,969,608 in what it labels government waste this year. This is the 11th annual airing of grievances from the Kentucky senator — a straightforward tally that refuses to sugarcoat how Washington spends other people’s paychecks. If Washington thinks taxpayers won’t notice their money being frittered away, they haven’t met the American people yet.
The biggest shocker in the report is the $1.22 trillion in interest payments alone, part of a national debt now creeping toward $40 trillion and ballooning at frightening speeds for ordinary families. Every dollar in interest is money not sent to teachers, not invested in infrastructure, and not saved for our children’s future; instead it’s interest on a debt pile created by politicians of both parties. This is fiscal malpractice masquerading as governance, and it’s long past time Republicans who talk fiscal conservatism start acting like it.
Beyond the sea of zeros, the report exposes the kind of cringeworthy line items that make Americans shake their heads — from experiments allegedly teaching ferrets to binge drink and dosing dogs with cocaine, to $14.6 million used to put monkeys through a “Price Is Right”-style video game. These aren’t harmless curiosities; they’re examples of federal labs and grant programs gone unchecked, funded on the backs of taxpayers who would never approve such nonsense. When government money fuels unethical experiments and frivolous stunts, it reveals a culture of entitlement and moral rot in our bureaucracies.
The Festivus list also calls out taxpayer dollars wasted on cultural claptrap: millions to promote insect-eating, influencer-driven anti-drug campaigns, and diversity projects at well-endowed universities while our borders remain open and our inner cities struggle. The report even flags infrastructure boondoggles like billions budgeted for EV chargers with only a handful operational—proof that big-dollar programs often deliver tiny results. This is Washington’s pattern: grand promises, miserable accountability, and the same political class demanding even more money next year.
Senator Paul is right to point fingers at both parties; the Festivus Report is a reminder that fiscal irresponsibility is bipartisan when power and pet projects are on the line. For eleven years he has played the role of fiscal gadfly because someone has to stand up for taxpayers and push back against the spending racket in D.C. Conservatives should treat this report as a rallying cry: demand audits, demand cuts, and refuse to accept Washington’s excuses.
Enough with the performative outrage from politicians who cheerlead the spending once the ink is dry on appropriations bills. The American people deserve leaders who will actually do the hard work of shrinking government, reining in debt, and restoring fiscal sanity — not press releases and photo ops. Roll up your sleeves, hold your representatives accountable, and tell Washington that Festivus isn’t just a joke; it’s a mirror showing the consequences of their choices.
