We were saddened to see the consummate government watchdog, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., resign his seat in December due to a recurrence of cancer. Coburn was famed for his annual Wastebook report. But perhaps Congress has found someone to take up Coburn's watchdog mantle. This month, Rep. Steve Russell, also from Oklahoma, released his first "Waste Watch" report. It offers 10 examples of government waste totaling more than $117 million.
Examples include the nearly $700,000 spent by the National Science Foundation to help amateur moviemakers produce "cinematic movies created by manipulating avatars in 3-D computer game worlds," and the $559,000 the U.S. Agency for International Aid provided over two years to teach Moroccan teenagers "public speaking, team building and conflict mitigation techniques" in an attempt to keep them from becoming violent political extremists (basically, the anti-terrorism version of inner-city midnight basketball programs). Consider the U.S. military's $456,669 contract to build a training facility for the Afghan Special Police that started disintegrating in the rain after four months because its bricks were made mostly of sand.
Depressing as these cases are, it is heartening to know that someone in Congress still has the gumption to uncover and publicize them. After all, spotlighting waste is the first step toward eliminating it.
Editorial on 04/25/2015