The Federal Government’s Annual Spending Orgy Wastes Your Money

It happens every September. Inside federal office buildings budget minions go on scandalous spending sprees using tens of billions of your tax dollars.
Their departments have gotten along just fine throughout the fiscal year but as the clock ticks down to September 30th they know that any money left over in their budget will be forfeited next fiscal year, so they scramble to spend every dollar.

What the heck are they buying at the last minute? The 2019 fiscal year facts, as compiled by a non-partisan watchdog group called OpenTheBooks, are mind-blowing. The group’s annual “Use-It-Or-Lose-It Spending Spree” report is a must read for every taxpayer who wonders if the federal government is justified in taxing us as much as it does.

They Have the Largest Federal Spending Data Base in the U.S.

At the Defense Department, by far the biggest last-minute spender, nearly $50 million went for luxury food items like steak, lobster tail, snow crab, mahi mahi, salmon and pecan pies. That was just in one month! It was just the appetizer for the rest of the DOD’s eyebrow raising spending.
Various government departments felt the need for new furniture last September and spent a combined $448 million that month. The Pentagon ordered up nearly $124 million in office furnishings, several agencies like Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security splurged on those snazzy sit-to-stand desks signing contracts worth $3.3 million. Another $1.1 million was spent on new bulletin boards and erasable white boards.

Wikipedia Commons Photo. Desk can be purchased at the Stand Up Desk Store here: https://www.standupdeskstore.com/adjustable-height-sit-to-stand-workstation-black?gclid=CjwKCAjwkdL6BRAREiwA-kiczKsktlua2i9WFzEVzdrcmaoyDrfQEU7u7zXSUWiyzhHHNXtud73KYRoCqMMQAvD_BwE
$219.00 Each, So How Many Do You Get for $3.3 million?

Eight different agencies, many having nothing to do with peacekeeping, bought a total of $690 million in guns, ammunition and other weaponry. Among those making the last-minute buys: the departments of Education, Treasury, Interior, Labor, Agriculture and Health and Human Services. Who knew some civil servants at those agencies were packing?
Nearly half a billion dollars – $456.8 million to be exact – was spent by 32 federal departments to polish up their public relations efforts. Keep in mind those agencies already employ more than 5,000 PR specialists. Some of that $456 million also paid for government advertising. Top spenders were HHS, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security and the VA. The most expensive contract ordered up was the $72 million allocated for an anti-smoking ad campaign. Don’t most people already know that smoking can kill?

Another $72 Million Ad Campaign …

The folks in charge of budgets at the General Services Administration, the VA and the departments of State, Defense and Justice bought a fleet of new cars from Fiat Chrysler ($59.5 million), Ford ($36 million) and General Motors ($31.2 million) but that wasn’t all. Your tax dollars also went for more than $1 million in golf carts, $100,000 worth of motorcycles and $96,121 worth of snowmobiles. Last September, as the rush was on to spend-spend-spend, total transportation category purchases came in at just under $254 million.
There were so many questionable items on the federal government’s last-minute shopping list ($1.5 million for games, toys and musical instruments, $550,000 spent on booze for embassies and consulates around the world) that there’s not enough space here to list them all. And, by the way, don’t be fooled by Washington’s “Buy America” mantra. $6.5 billion went to contractors in foreign countries including Germany, Afghanistan and Japan.
There was hope Congress might step in to curb this reckless use of taxpayer dollars. Republican Senator Joni Ernst introduced a bill last April to reign in the September madness. Democratic congressman Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would support ending use-it-or-lose-it spending at the DOD. But guess what’s happened so far? That’s right – lip service but no concrete action.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa. Official U.S. Senate photograph
Ernst’s Last-Minute-Spending Bill Went Nowhere

In February, when President Trump sent his latest budget to Congress he pledged to end the spend-it-all mindset. His Office of Management and Budget is in charge of reining in last-minute binge buying and promises to continue the crack down this September. Important to note: last September’s $91 billion spending spree was lower than the year before when it nearly topped $97 billion.
So now its open spending season again. Are the federal budget minions frantically writing more checks or has word trickled down that outraged taxpayers have gotten wise?
Naturally, we won’t know details about this September’s spending until sometime next year when OpenTheBooks has time to gather facts and issue its next report. Thank goodness someone is keeping track.

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23 Comments

  1. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:44 am

    Reader Brian D Berry writes:

    Hi Diane,

    I enjoy reading your column each week and totally agree with your overall message having spent a career as an Air Force officer and 14 years since as a DoD contractor. You mention many federal departments that surprisingly bought weaponry that included Interior and Agriculture. Off the top of my head, NPS (Interior) rangers and NFS (Ag) rangers absolutely pack. Just a minor pick. Keep up the thought-provoking columns!

  2. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:45 am

    Reader Landon Parrotte writes:

    And we can’t get a f ing stimulus check!

  3. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:45 am

    Reader Episto Unum writes:

    We see this every year – the real swamp. No attempt has made to drain it, in fact it’s gotten worse. The current batch of cabinet appointees is sucking away. Congress and Trump’s are pouring money in. This year they gave DOD more money than they themselves asked for.

    • Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:46 am

      Diane Dimond replies to Episto

      Actually, Episto Unum, you are not correct. It has not gotten worse. As I wrote in the column this September’s splurge of end-of-fiscal-year spending has gotten better…Down from $95 billion. But at $91 billion t is still too darned high!

  4. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:49 am

    Reader MJ Ponsegrau writes:

    Perhaps one of these days those who like to point fingers and post accusations will come to learn that those elected (and re-elected repeatedly) to represent “We the People” in government do anything but. Term limitations should be a “must”, but you’ll never see anyone in today’s Congress supporting it. “We the People” mean nothing to them other than votes for election or re-election, and a perpetual source of taxpayer dollars they can spend to their heart’s content.

  5. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:49 am

    Reader Frej writes:

    The problem, as I see it, is with the “incremental budgeting” method in the public sector, combined with a faltering moral level in society (e.g. increased self-interest). It really encourages spending the allocated funding so that the budget level can be maintained next year (that’s a major part of this budget method). It does not incentivize savings like in the private sector, where staff can receive recognition and bonuses for achieving savings to help the bottom line. Seems to be time for another budgeting method for the public sector, combined with self-cultivation of the human heart.

  6. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 8:53 am

    Reader Norman Meyer writes:

    I am writing to express my concerns about the column that appeared in my local newspaper today, “Feds’ annual spending orgy wastes your money.” I support efforts to ensure our tax dollars are wisely allocated and spent, yet inflammatory and ill-informed rhetoric as was used in this column are not helpful when it paints an inaccurate picture of what is happening.

    I am a retired federal manager and here are my thoughts:

    The federal budget year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. Congress and the President are charged with enacting the annual budget prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, but an a high majority of recent years they have failed to do so, often resulting in “continuing resolutions” that temporarily fund the government – freezing budgets for several months at the prior year level, at best. The actual budgets often are not enacted until three or more months into the fiscal year.

    What this means to those managing agency budgets/spending is to only spend the absolute minimum to get by during this time, and then cope with a compressed “spending year” after the real budget is enacted – now usually at most 9 months, sometimes shorter. What we did in my experience was to divide the fiscal year into parts: first quarter, severely limit spending (because, again, you don’t know what your real budget is); second quarter, open up spending to a moderate level to “catch up” on deferred needs/replenish supplies/etc.; third quarter, be conservative again to make sure you are making it through the fiscal year; fourth quarter, when you finally have a very good idea of where you stand (allocated/unspent dollars vs. budget plan/needs), go ahead and make purchases to close out the fiscal year. What this ends up doing is, as the column noted, having the highest levels of spending occur in the last few months of every fiscal year. Any prudent budget manager, whether in the public or private sector, would do the same.

    Labeling this prudent spending in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year as an “orgy” is inflammatory and unfair.

    Now, I agree that many of the items cited in the column appear to be things that may not be appropriate purchases. Without further detail on some of them, however, it is hard to know. For instance, the games and puzzles item may be for child care centers, or mental health/drug treatment facilities – in which case, that seems OK to me.

    Some of the items cited as being “wasteful” do not appear to be so, in my opinion.
    For instance, vehicles of many types are absolutely necessary to carry out the mission of almost all federal agencies. Why question their purchase, especially when (as I recite above in part a.) spending is logically deferred to the last few months of the year (especially on high-cost items)?

    For instance, questioning the purchase of firearms and ammunition for the agencies cited shows an ignorance of the missions and duties of many agencies – how about the National Park rangers in the Department of the Interior? Don’t you want them to have firearms to carry out their duties vis a vis wildlife management, policing criminal activity, etc.?

    And, what is so wrong about purchasing stand-up desks to foster the health and well-being of staff who work at desks all day – just as private industry has found to be appropriate? Don’t we want to provide up to date workplaces for our federal employees, or do you think that federal employees are second rate and we shouldn’t support their health in providing the best return on our tax dollars in carrying out their duties?

    Finally, criticizing spending on anti-smoking campaigns reveals a woeful ignorance of the continued health crisis caused by smoking, and now vaping, among our young adults (high schoolers, in particular). We need to redouble our efforts to decrease such usage, not abandon the effort with snide comments like “doesn’t everyone know already that smoking is harmful?” Well, the answer to this is no, they don’t.

    I hope you carefully reconsider the positions taken in today’s column. I usually find your column to be very good, but this time you have missed the mark and improperly besmirched the actions of federal managers. It is my hope that in a follow up column you provide a more robust, accurate commentary, and perhaps admit that this column missed the mark.

    Thank you for your consideration of my point of view.

    Norman Meyer

    • Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:29 am

      Reader Jim St.Clair@jstclair1 replies to Norman Meyer:

      They’re a big part of the problem. CRs (Continuing Resolutions) in particular are disastrous. Congress is supposed to have the new FY budget passed and appropriated in time for OMB to manage it the entire year, not starting in Mar or April

    • Don Asheim on October 8, 2020 at 10:46 am

      Norman Meyer, Reading your comments defending some out of control spending makes one think you are part of the bottomless swamp in Wash. DC. Apparently bureaucrats enjoy spending everyone else’s money except their own federal govt. paycheck.

  7. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:01 am

    Reader Dave Graham writes:

    All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives which is controlled by the Democrats.

  8. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:02 am

    Reader Candy Martin replies to Dave:

    And God knows, Queen Nancy, the #hairpocrite isn’t going to lift a finger to help us!

  9. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:02 am

    Reade Episto Unum writes:

    The budget originates in the white house. The DOD bloat starts at the top – the commander in chief.

    • Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:02 am

      Diane Dimond replies to Episto:

      Ummmm… Actually, Episto Unum, this is not correct. The House Ways and Means Committee drafts the U.S. budget and the full House votes on it. Then it is sent over to the Senate for a vote. If there are disagreements between the House and Senate versions the bill first goes to conference committee to reconcile those differences. Now, the president does send up to the hill his/her non-binding budget wish list but the House is under no obligation to adopt any or all of it.

  10. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:03 am

    Reader Diana Graetz writes:

    All this while countless are scraping by. Have they no shame?! No need to answer I already know!!

  11. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:04 am

    Reader Barbara Evenson writes:

    Disgusting!!! Yearly Audits of budget spending being used for the purpose they were setup for should be MANDATORY!!

  12. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:04 am

    Reader Edward Burke writes:

    Let’s hire some accountants and Fleshing Eating Lawyers and pay them 10 cents on every dollar they can cut from the spending that needs to end. That oughta fix the problem.

  13. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:05 am

    Reader fluff e writes:

    I mean this money isn’t spent in a vaccuum. Wasteful, probably…but it does make it into the economy.

  14. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:06 am

    Reader Old Boy Scout writes:

    I enjoyed this piece, Ms. Dimond. Thank you.

    Budgeted government spending is a blessing that limits this kind of waste. Makes the government employees chafe. Oh well. We don’t want government to “prosper” in marble palaces. We want government to function.

    Unlimited government spending is a blessing to the elite.

  15. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:06 am

    Reader Jean d Arc writes:

    Bottom line is they need LESS BUDGET ALLOWANCE from the get-go!!!

  16. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:06 am

    Reader James Phillips writes:

    The problem it seems to me is that the Government goes on a DIET for 9 months (three fiscal quarters) an in the last quarter (July-September) it binge eats as if it will never eat again. In October the cycle begins anew. If the budget doesn’t pass and there is a continuing resolution, it only makes the Binge Eating period more necessary. As if binge eating will prepare us for the lean times. Horrible way to run a diet or a Country.

  17. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:27 am

    Reader Karen Schofield@KarenSc38678909 writes:

    The use it or lose it philosophy of bureaucracies.

  18. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 9:49 am

    Reader Jonathan Swartz writes:

    I think that especially during these times, that our money should go where it is needed most. to health care, infrastructure, and things that can help communities and people get back on track.

  19. Diane Dimond on September 7, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Reader Stephanie Kovac writes:

    Cause $2 TRILLION wasn’t enough this year? Our lawmakers have spent this country into a debt we can never get out of. And all they do is kick the can, refusing to balance a budget although most Americans live with one. The excess spending is indulgence, pure and simple.

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