Rand Paul Celebrates Festivus by Railing Against Big Spending in His Latest Report

The sitcom Seinfeld made the parody holiday “Festivus” a household name back in an episode in 1997.

This holiday became famous for its annual “Airing of Grievances,” where participants tell others every way in which they’ve been disappointed throughout the year.

22 years later, this holiday is still going strong.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul aired his Festivus grievances for the federal government, in particular, for its fiscal malfeasances.

In Paul’s latest Festivus Report, the Kentucky Senator called attention to the over $50 billion the federal government wasted in 2019.

Paul sadly concluded that “The more things changed in 2019, the more they stayed the same.”

Paul tweeted, “It’s that time of year again. The #Festivus 2019 report is here! Read more: scribd.com/document/44040 Highlights include: building up Tunisia’s political system and the Pakistani film industry; funding research that involves hooking Zebrafish on nicotine and much, much more!”

The examples of wasteful government spending Paul exposed would boggle the mind.

According to the Festivus report, the State Department provided $16 million in taxpayer dollars to send international students from Indonesia, South Africa, India, Brazil, and other countries to college for free. Think about it, when American students are dealing with high tuition and graduating with a massive amount of debt, the federal government is using taxpayer dollars to give international students tuition-free college education.

For other agencies, wasteful spending was also present. Take for example the U.S. Agency for International Development. It spent $20 million teaching people who live in the Southeast Asian country Laos to speak their native tongue, Lao.

The government also dropped $100,000 subsidizing the film industry in Pakistan, $1.2 million to study online dating, $16 million to improve education in Egypt, and $33 million to buy textbooks for Afghan students.

Given that the national debt is $23 trillion, Paul’s report is only the tip of the iceberg of the type of wasteful spending that goes down in the D.C. swamp.

Paul’s Festivus Report gives a humorous take to an otherwise serious matter of fiscal responsibility.

The federal government is out of control and it should consider fiscal restraint for a change.

Passing on massive debt to future generations is no laughing matter.