Money to Burn: Report Details Massive Government Waste

It's no secret the federal government spends trillions of taxpayer dollars, but it also wastes billions more. A report from the watchdog OpentheBooks last year found the total amount of "improper payments" made by federal agencies in 2022 was estimated at $247 billion. That comes out to $20 billion in wasteful spending per month, and that only covered the top 17 federal agencies. The worst culprit was Health and Human Services, which wasted $132 billion in one year alone. The report also found the government was able to recoup about $23 billion of the total wasted money for the year---or less than 10%.

While out-of-control spending is one thing, this out-of-control waste only adds to the growing fiscal crisis in Washington, D.C. "We already have this massive amount of deficits running more than two-trillion dollars a year, the total national debt is more than 34-trillion, and now we're paying net interest on the debt of about a trillion dollars a year," says Vance Ginn, Texas-based economist. "Whenever that money isn't even going to the people it's supposed to go to, it should be staying in the taxpayers' pockets."

Just like with spending, the problem with government waste cuts across both parties, as Congress doesn't want to do the dirty work of trying to rein in these federal agencies. "There is more incentive for agencies to just get money out the door, so they can then ask for more money from Congress---the taxpayer---in the next cycle," says Ginn. "So, this is a continuing problem of what I call budget inertia."

Congress has the power of the purse and has authority over cabinet agencies. Now they just need the will to act. "There is a huge amount of waste within the federal government that needs to be weeded out," Ginn tells KTRH. "There are a lot of ways to do that, but it doesn't even seem like Congress wants to look into it...they just want to keep on spending more and running up more deficits."

"This is something we need to do," he continues. "I don't care if they're a Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian, everybody should be in favor of cutting waste out of the federal government."