Federal Fumbles Vol. 7: Sen. James Lankford Releases Annual Report On Federal Government Waste

What do a study on European butterflies, a Napa Valley walking trail, and the development of ‘smart toilets’ have in common? All were recently supported with federal tax dollars and all made it into Oklahoma Senator James Lankford’s latest 'Federal Fumbles' report on wasteful spending:"

This is Lankford’s 7th edition of Federal Fumbles, an offshoot of the late Senator Tom Coburn’s 'Wastebook'.

"What we’re trying to do with Federal Fumbles is not to highlight every area of wasteful spending," Sen. Lankford (R-Okla.) explained in an interview Thursday. "We’re pulling out samples and saying this is the type of issue that I get frustrated with."

"We just paid for a study on European butterflies in Germany, done by a Swedish scientist," said an incredulous Lankford. "And I look at it and go, 'Where is the American connection?'"

What makes this and other funding decisions especially troubling is that he feels they completely ignore the fact that the nation's debt has now grown to $31.4 trillion, a point he drove home Thursday in discussing his report on the Senate floor.

"The first step in talking about debt and deficit is actually taking it seriously," Lankford stated.

While Lankford takes particular aim at the current Democratic administration, he acknowledges that past Republican administrations and Congresses have also lacked fiscal discipline. He says lack of discipline in crafting a federal budget over the years has resulted lawmakers' bad habit of relying on the last-minute passage of an omnibus package.

"When we continue to have omnibus spending bills where there are thousands of pages that literally has never been through any committee, this kind of stuff gets stuck in," Lankford said in the interview. "Oklahomans paid for a wine walking trail through Napa Valley through a special earmark that was done for California through literally one of the most prosperous communities in the world."

Lankford opposed the recent return of earmarks (Congressionally directed spending) after their 10-year hiatus, but some members of Oklahoma's delegation believe they correctly put funding decisions in the hands of the people who know their districts best.

Last year, according to a ProPublica database, four members of the Oklahoma delegation -- Sen. Inhofe. Rep. Cole, Rep. Lucas, and Rep. Bice -- directed 46 earmarks to Oklahoma, totaling $132 million.

Just as Lankford questions why Oklahomans federal taxes should help pay for a walking trail in California, he says it's fair to ask why taxpayers from other states should have to foot the bill for something specific to Oklahoma.

"When people come to me for grant dollars," Lankford explained, "I smile at them and say--I always ask the question, 'Should the people of Kansas pay for this? Or is this something we should pay for?'"

Especially now, with the nation's leaders struggling to avoid a debt default, Lankford says Congress cannot continue to overspend as it has recently, more than a trillion dollars every year.

"No family, no business, no entity can continue to overspend at this kind of level and say there’s not going to be consequences," Lankford remarked.

Senator Lankford took a moment at the end of his floor speech to thank his staff who put the report together and to assure constituents back home, “tthere are some great people working for them every single day."

To read Federal Fumbles Vol. 7, click here.