It's that time of year again, when Sen. Rand Paul posts his annual Festivus report of the most ridiculous budget items he can find. Highlights of last year's naughty list included $3 million for "Girl-Centered Climate Action" in Brazil. This year's report, as reported by The New York Post, "accuses federal agencies of blowing taxpayer cash on everything from insect-eating propaganda to drugged dogs, drunken ferrets and monkeys playing a 'Price Is Right' knockoff video game."
Rand Paul’s annual Festivus report slams feds for bug buffets, coked-up dogs and $1.6T taxpayer tab https://t.co/U1eyhWEQau pic.twitter.com/NvCK8Ub8Qz
— New York Post (@nypost) December 23, 2025
Here he is:
I am BACK, and I’m ready to air more grievances against government waste, Congress, Fauci, endless wars, foreign aid, and many, many others.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
I have no grievances with @POTUS, zero, none, nada, zilch. Mr. President, I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a successful third term.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
…ok, do you think he stopped reading yet? Cause I do have one or two grievances, and I think we have to be fair and list them against both sides.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
I have them all actually written right here on this note. I asked the DOJ to look at it first, here it is: pic.twitter.com/Ef1YvkNpN1
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Shit. They blacked out every single word. Why would they do that? Who are they protecting from my grievances??
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Of course, my longest-standing beef with President Trump, who I really do like and work with often, is that we simply did not agree on Dr. Fauci. He gave him a microphone and a medal. I want to give him a subpoena and a jail cell.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Endorsed.
I also had a lotta problems with Biden’s DOJ for ignoring my criminal referral of Fauci for lying to the American people.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
In January, I sent a mountain of evidence to President Trump’s DOJ showing Fauci illegally destroyed federal records. Where is the indictment???
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Gee, why would President Joe Biden (or whoever had control of the autopen) grant Anthony Fauci one of those preemptive pardons?
Of course, Fauci is far in the lead for government officials doing dumb or evil things - but he’s far from the only one.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
I’ve also got a lotta problems with how government welfare programs are being abused and how nobody seems to want to talk about it.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Take Minnesota. The MN Medicaid fraudsters stole billions of your dollars. That’s why I’ll be reintroducing my bill to build a wall around welfare, so no legal or illegal aliens can get put on the dole. Welfare should be a safety net, not an ATM for fraudsters.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Yes.
And Medicaid fraud is just one example of a much bigger problem.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
That’s why every year I compile a Festivus waste report. If you want to read it all, visit https://t.co/mMKrupLgf7. But I’ll tell you about some of my favorites here: pic.twitter.com/2X2TjErqjJ
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
Hmm … USAID gave $54 million to the EcoHealth Alliance NGO for gain-of-function research.
The National Institutes of Health spent more than $5 million to dose dogs with cocaine. If you've read Paul's previous Festivus reports, you'll notice that the government is particularly keen on administering drugs to animals.
The NIH also provided another $13.8 million for Fauci's inhumane beagle experiments.
The USDA funded a $1 million collaboration to soup up bird flu viruses with the help of a researcher affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Here are some more taken from the report:
- Tik Tok Therapy: Fighting Drugs with Influencers: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is spending $1.5 million on an “innovative multilevel strategy” to reduce drug use in ‘Latinx’ communities through celebrity influencer campaigns.
- Cartoon Climate Crusaders in Pakistan: The U.S. Department of State gave $244,252 to Stand for Peace in Islamabad to produce a television cartoon series that teaches kids in Pakistan how to fight climate change.
- Weight Loss by Wi-Fi: HHS is spending $1.9 million on a “hybrid mobile phone family intervention” designed to reduce childhood obesity among Latino families in Los Angeles County.
- Make Vegetables More Inclusive: USDA spent $141,517 to create a ‘resilient and equitable’ local food network that prioritizes culturally relevant food for low-income LGBT people of color from the Bronx and Brooklyn.
I’ll be back with more grievances, more waste, more holiday cheer in a little while. In the meantime, I hope you are all airing your grievances, too! Special grievances for Congress, foreign aid, and much more.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 23, 2025
— ArieHimself (@barieoyer) December 23, 2025
Oh boy. Another tweet with a promise to do something when we all know nothing will be done.
— My team is better than your team. (@houseofhoyt) December 23, 2025
Congress holds the purse strings. The Festivus report should be required reading for every member of the House and Senate.
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