New York Post
Rand Paul’s annual Festivus report slams feds for bug buffets, coked-up dogs and $1.6T taxpayer tab
By Caitlin Doornbos
Published Dec. 23, 2025, 1:27 p.m. ET
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — for airing government grievances.
Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) blistering new Festivus Report 2025 dropped this week, torching Washington for what it says is a staggering $1.63 trillion in government waste, including a jaw-dropping $1.22 trillion just to cover interest on the national debt.
The annual report, released in the spirit of Seinfeld’s famously cranky holiday, 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.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Bug buffets and influencer therapy
Among the more eyebrow-raising line items: nearly $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation to promote insects as “food for humans.” Mmm, bug buffets on Uncle Sam’s dime.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services shelled out $1.5 million for what the report dubs “TikTok therapy,” using celebrity influencers to discourage drug use in Latino communities.
Another $40 million-plus went to influencer campaigns urging minority groups to get COVID vaccines — years after lockdowns and mandates ended.
Booze-soaked ferrets, cocaine dogs
Animal experiments featured prominently in the report’s hall of shame, as they have in years past.
Taxpayers paid more than $1 million for a Veterans Affairs study that forced teenage ferrets to binge-drink booze — before killing them.
The NIH also spent $5.2 million dosing dogs with cocaine — again — while $13.8 million more went toward controversial beagle experiments tied to previously reported Fauci-era grants, according to the report.
Elsewhere, monkeys with metal headposts screwed into their skulls to keep their heads in place as they were forced to play a Plinko-style video game — to the tune of $14.6 million.
Climate cartoons and woke campuses
Foreign spending didn’t escape scrutiny either.
The State Department forked over $244,252 for a children’s climate-change cartoon in Pakistan, while another $1.5 million promoted American movies and video games overseas, according to the report.
Back home, Northwestern University received $3.3 million to build “scientific neighborhoods,” install “safe space ambassadors” and form committees aimed at dismantling “systemic racism” — despite sitting on a multibillion-dollar endowment.
EV chargers that don’t charge — and migrant perks
The report also takes aim at Biden-era infrastructure spending, noting that $7.5 billion was approved for electric vehicle chargers — but only 68 stations are actually up and running nationwide.
The Department of Health and Human Services is accused of blowing $22.6 billion on migrant programs that included furniture, car repairs and home down payments, raising alarms about incentives at the southern border.
Debt bomb ticking louder
Paul’s biggest grievance? The debt itself.
The report warns the national debt has surged to nearly $40 trillion, with the government now borrowing more than $75,000 every second — a pace that critics say is unsustainable.
“This is the kind of spending that makes you wonder if anyone in Washington has ever heard the word ‘priorities,’” the report says.
As for solutions? Paul again pushes sweeping budget cuts — and promised that next year’s Festivus will feature even more grievances.
In Washington, there’s always something new to hang on the aluminum pole.
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