Facts Matter – "9 Eye-Opening Examples of ‘Waste Spending’ From Rand Paul's $1.6 Trillion ‘Festivus’ Report"

Podcast: Facts Matter
Host: Roman (The Epoch Times)
Date: January 16, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode revolves around Senator Rand Paul's 2025 Festivus Report, which exposes what Paul describes as some of the most egregious examples of federal government waste in the past year. Host Roman walks listeners through nine remarkable cases pulled from the report, aiming to highlight a broad spectrum of questionable or controversial expenditures. The tone is one of incredulity and critical examination, with an invitation for listeners to decide whether these programs are wasteful or potentially beneficial investments.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Growth of 'Waste' Spending ([00:00])

• Background: For 11 years, Senator Paul has been publishing the Festivus Report to “air grievances” over government expenditures.
• Trend: The reported sum of wasted government spending has escalated dramatically:
  • 2015: ~$1 billion
  • 2019: >$50 billion
  • 2025: $1.639 trillion
• Interest Payments Dominate: "US taxpayers paid a cool $1.22 trillion in interest just to service the national debt last year. That is significantly more than the entire military budget." (Roman, [01:07])
• While Senator Paul now includes interest payments in the total waste, the episode will focus on other, more specific examples.

1. NIH Beagle & Puppy Experiments ([02:10])

• Continuation of Notorious Experiments: After public outcry over prior NIH beagle experiments, funding not only persisted but increased.
• Details:
  • $13.8 million spent on infesting beagle puppies with disease-carrying ticks at the University of Missouri, Columbia.
  • Puppies denied pain relief to avoid interaction with vaccines.
  • “This project alone is still funded by three different FAUCI ERA NIAID grants, which … have cost taxpayers over $13.8 million so far.” (Roman quoting the report, [03:25])

2. VA – Binge Drinking Ferrets ([04:20])

• Department of Veterans Affairs Project: $1 million for experiments inducing alcoholism in teenage ferrets.
• Method: Ferrets forced to drink only alcohol on designated "forced binge days," with the process repeated for up to 90 days before being euthanized.
• Claimed Purpose: "The researchers claim the goal of this drunken ferret experiment is to pave the way for teenage ferrets to be used to test chemical weapons, opioids, extreme stress and TBI ... or to conduct studies related to depression, stress responses, addiction, schizophrenia, suicide and sensory processing." (Roman, quoting, [05:25])
• Host's takeaway: "Hope those experiments pan out to something useful." (Roman, [06:30])

3. TikTok Influencer Anti-Drug Campaign ([06:40])

• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
  • $1.5 million for "UnitaE," a TikTok-based anti-drug initiative targeting Latinx communities.
  • 30 celebrity influencers recruited to spread anti-drug messages in South Florida.
• Questionable Effectiveness: "Taxpayers are footing the bill to see if celebrity clout and group chats can succeed where decades of anti-drug programs have failed." (Roman quoting the report, [07:40])
• Roman's perspective: Spending to curb youth drug use is not the worst, but effectiveness is debatable.

4. US State Dept. – Pakistani Children’s Climate Change Cartoon ([08:13])

• Grant Amount: $244,252 to create a TV cartoon series in Islamabad teaching children about climate change.
• Critique: "American taxpayer dollars fund the creation of animated characters to raise environmental awareness and show youth practical actions to save the planet. It's climate policy meets Saturday morning TV, starring Uncle Sam as the executive producer." (Roman quoting, [08:50])

5. COVID-19 Vaccination Influencers – $40 Million, 2025 ([09:20])

• HHS Campaigns in Minority Communities:
  • $20.9 million to National Urban League – "Wellness Vaccination Coverage Program" (<10:01>)
  • $20.9 million to Unidos US – "Esperanza [Hope for All] campaign" (<10:50>)
• Efforts included mass influencer outreach, toolkits, and mobile events to promote COVID-19 vaccination.
• Outcome Critique: "Taxpayers got charged nearly $42 million for the privilege of being lectured by celebrities and community committees that insisted vaccine hesitancy should be solved with more toolkits, flyers and talking points from the same institutions that caused the mistrust in the first place." (Roman, [11:10])
• Actual impact on vaccine adoption unclear.

6. Inclusive Vegetable Gardens for Low-Income LGBTQ+ Communities ([12:10])

• USDA Program: $141,000 to support “QT BIPOC”—queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color—farmers in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
• Project Goal: "Co-design a resilient and equitable food system for low income QT BIPOC communities…” (Roman quoting, [12:40])
• Scope includes “queer, trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, intersex, gender non-conforming, non-binary, two spirit and basically anyone else they can fit under the umbrella.” (Roman, [12:57])

7. Northwestern University – Dismantling Systemic Racism ([13:20])

• HHS/NIH Grant: $3.3 million to Northwestern University for its Nurture program.
• Funded Projects:
  • Safe Space Ambassadors
  • Inclusive excellence coaching
  • Institutional transformation and accountability committee
• Critique: “Northwestern is one of the wealthiest universities in the country … yet taxpayers are picking up the tab for its internal HR experiments.” (Roman, [13:50])

8. Gender-Affirming Care Activism in Guatemala ([14:10])

• USAID: $2 million approved for gender-affirming care activism and influencer campaigns by Association LAMDA in Guatemala.
• Roman’s View:
  • "This isn't disaster relief or clean water. It's social engineering abroad funded by people who never got a vote on it." ([15:07])
• Highlighted as an example of foreign aid expenditures with questionable alignment to core U.S. interests.

9. Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Boondoggle ([15:45])

• DOT Funding: $7.5 billion allocated in 2021 for 500,000 charging stations nationwide.
• Actual Output by April 2025: Only 68 stations (384 charging ports in 16 states).
• Calculation: "If you do the math, each charging station effectively cost the US taxpayers over $110 million a piece." (Roman, [16:53])
• Political contention: Trump administration tried and failed to reallocate funding; federal court stepped in.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “US taxpayers paid a cool $1.22 trillion in interest just to service the national debt last year.” — Roman ([01:07])
• "Do you think that this is wasteful spending or throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks in terms of investment?" — Roman ([18:08])
• "Taxpayers got charged nearly $42 million for the privilege of being lectured by celebrities and community committees..." — Roman (on vaccine influencer campaigns, [11:10])
• “Hope those experiments pan out to something useful.” — Roman (on $1 million for ferret binge-drinking studies, [06:30])
• "...each charging station effectively cost the US taxpayers over $110 million a piece." — Roman ([16:53])

Listener Call-to-Action & Final Thoughts ([17:45])

• Roman invites audience feedback: Should these line items be considered wasteful or are they valuable government investments?
• A link to the full Festivus Report is mentioned for those interested in a more in-depth review.
• Closing reflection on the scale of spending, especially in comparison to mounting interest payments on U.S. debt: "Ironically, we as a country are actually so much in debt that all these programs ... really don't even amount to a rounding error when you compare them to the interest payments..."

Summary Table of Examples (with Timestamps)

| Example | Spending | Purpose/Controversy | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------|:-----------:|-------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | NIH beagle puppy experiments | $13.8M | Infecting puppies with ticks, cruelty allegations | 03:25 | | VA binge-drinking ferrets | $1M | Alcoholism/mental health research on ferrets | 05:25 | | TikTok anti-drug influencer campaign | $1.5M | Celebrity campaigns for Latinx kids | 07:40 | | US climate change cartoon for Pakistani kids | $244K | Climate education in Islamabad | 08:50 | | Minority vaccine influencer campaigns | $40M+ | COVID-19 vax outreach via Urban League/Unidos US | 11:10 | | Inclusive vegetable gardens in NYC | $141K | QT BIPOC support in Brooklyn/Bronx | 12:40 | | Dismantling racism at Northwestern | $3.3M | “Safe Space Ambassadors” and HR initiatives | 13:50 | | Gender-affirming care activism in Guatemala | $2M | International gender and LGBT advocacy | 15:07 | | EV charger rollout failure | $7.5B | Only 68 charging stations produced | 16:53 |

Tone and Style

• Throughout the episode, host Roman maintains a dry, matter-of-fact delivery, often laced with incredulity and rhetorical questioning but consistent with “no spin, no favorites” journalism.
• Listeners are continually invited to question and decide for themselves, with the host balancing critique with open-ended skepticism: “But hey, maybe I’m missing something. Maybe these are all just great investments.” ([17:10])

Closing

The episode offers a rapid-fire audit of how federal dollars are sometimes spent in eye-opening (and at times surreal) ways, using Rand Paul's annual Festivus Report as a lens. While many line items provoke skepticism, the real challenge posed to listeners is where to draw the line between “waste” and “investment” in a nation with ever-growing debt.