Rand Paul's annual Festivus report details how Biden admin spent $1T on 'government waste'

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul on Monday released his annual "Festivus" report, which included allegations the Biden administration spent $1 trillion on "'government waste," including taxpayer dollars on an ice-skating drag show.

The report consists of "grievances" Paul has compiled throughout the past year on the Biden administration's spending. The report gets its name from a celebration that stems from the 1960s but was made popular by the TV sitcom "Seinfeld" in the 1990s, according to the Washington Examiner.

Paul's 41-page report this year also concluded the administration wasted some of the $1 trillion on the construction of pickle ball complexes and a rat test related to cocaine.

“Last Festivus, we bemoaned the national debt nearing $34 trillion. In just a year, Washington’s career politicians and bureaucrats have managed to push it beyond $36 trillion – unsurprisingly, with hardly a second thought,” Paul wrote in the report's introduction. “As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates.”

The report found that the administration gave a $10,000 grant to the ice-skating drag show "Beards on Ice," and gave New York University over $400,000 to study whether isolated rats seek cocaine more than normal rats, Fox News reported.

"Now, did the government really need to spend nearly half a million dollars to verify that social isolation and starvation may lead to increased drug usage?" Paul wrote. "One thing is for sure, we must end this rat-wheel of waste!"

The administration also spent $12 million to fund a pickle ball complex in Las Vegas, $20 million on a Sesame Street spin-off show in Iraq, titled "Ahlan Simsim," and $10 billion on government buildings that are largely empty because of the increase in federal remote work.

"As the average American taxpayers struggle to pay rent, their hard-earned dollars are ironically funneled into more real estate," the report stated.

The senator also found that the Biden administration gave $2.1 million to fund Paraguay's border, despite the United States' own border crisis.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.