Golden Hammer
GOLDEN HAMMER: Amtrak spends millions on fancy high-speed cars, little on basic maintenance
Dozens of federal watchdog reports over the past decade have revealed a culture of financial irresponsibility and mismanagement at Amtrak that has led to billions of wasted taxpayer dollars over the years and may have put travelers at risk.
Golden Hammer: Congress keeps funding overbudget plutonium site
This week the House approved over $300 million for a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River in South Carolina as part of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts, despite calls from watchdog groups to gut a program that has fallen far behind schedule, exceeded its budget and has no real customers.
Golden Hammer: House dedicates millions to unneeded missile system
In what some are calling a political power play, Congress moved Thursday to approve the national defense budget that includes millions of dollars for a missile-defense site that Pentagon officials have repeatedly said is unneeded.
Golden Hammer: Medicare overseers waste $251 million by using outdated drug pricing estimates
Ignoring previous cost-cutting recommendations from its own watchdogs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wasted nearly $251 million in taxpayer dollars on infusion drugs in just 18 months by using outdated drug pricing estimates, which drove up the cost of prescription injectable drugs for an aging baby boomer population.
GOLDEN HAMMER: Navy civilian workers abuse overtime pay while union supervisors claim ignorance
Civilian workers at Indiana's Naval Weapons Station Crane sought and received nearly $4 million in pay for working with explosives, handling microorganisms or being in dangerous conditions. The only problem was, they never worked under such conditions.
Golden Hammer: Inmates gone wild at Brooklyn House half-way house in N.Y.
Inmates at a halfway house in Brooklyn, New York, were allowed to come and go from the facility as they pleased, did not receive mandatory drug testing, and didn't have required verification of employment, according to a new audit report from the Department of Justice.
Golden Hammer: Ice rinks cost cities millions of dollars, fail to pay off
Taxpayers across America shelled out at least $4.8 million last year to fund government-run ice rinks, and some city governments are running deficits in the tens of millions of dollars, all in an effort to subsidize ice skating and hockey playing.
Golden Hammer: Naval Weapons Station Earle employees misused funds after Sandy
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, civilian workers at New Jersey's Naval Weapons Station Earle used the base's money to buy ceramic tile, molding and toilet partitions for their personal houses and exploited overtime pay — with some putting in and being approved for 24-hour work shifts during the disaster.
Golden Hammer: GAO reports federal government wasted $125 billion in 2014 alone
Federal agencies across the board are continuing to waste tens of billions of taxpayer dollars on duplicative spending efforts, even after Congress' official watchdog has made hundreds of recommendations for cutting back.
GOLDEN HAMMER: Coast Guard mismanages millions in bridge construction projects
Call it a case of money under the bridge, but the Coast Guard, which keeps America safe by patrolling U.S. waterways, can't effectively manage the flow of millions of tax dollars spent on bridge construction projects.
Colorado sheriffs spent violent offender tracking funds on T-shirts, dinners with spouses
Sheriffs in Colorado used nearly half the money the federal government gave them to track violent offenders on impermissible expenses like promotional T-shirts and restaurant dinners with their spouses, according to the latest investigation to expose weak oversight of Justice Department grants.
Golden Hammer: U.S. sends China millions in foreign aid despite $1.3 trillion debt
China has become one of the world's largest two economies, and is wealthy enough to buy up at least $1.3 trillion of the U.S. debt. But that hasn't stopped Uncle Sam from continuing to send foreign aid to Beijing.
Golden Hammer: Millions of HUD money went to lobbying, not housing
Despite a prohibition against taxpayer money being spent to influence government, millions of dollars meant to provide housing to poor and underprivileged areas instead went to lobbying because of lax oversight by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Golden Hammer: Federal bucks reap a bumper crop of farmers markets
Know your farmer, know your food, but most importantly, know where your tax dollars are going.
Golden Hammer: Army Corps dumps $7M into defective Afghan plant
According to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the United States has shelled out more than $7.2 million to construct a defective power plant and wasted another $1.3 million building two gas stations that have never been used.
Golden Hammer: FEMA wastes millions on hurricane damage claims, lets insurance companies off hook
Consider it a case of good taxpayer dollars literally being blown away: The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent more than $177 million on hurricane repairs in Florida that should have been paid by private insurance, a new watchdog report has found.
Golden Hammer: Homeland Security spends millions on overtime
The Homeland Security Department continues to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars a year in overtime to its employees without being sure it is justified, despite years of warning that valuable tax money is in danger of being wasted.
Golden Hammer: Congress loads military budget with $20 billion in pet projects
Congress may have sworn off earmarks, but lawmakers still managed to tuck into latest versions of the defense spending bill dozens of pet projects that have only tenuous connections to national security.
Golden Hammer: U.S. squandered $34 million on failed Afghanistan soybean project
Call it the great American soybean heist, the latest tale of U.S. taxpayer abuse to emanate from Afghanistan.
Golden Hammer: A Year in Review: $73B of fiscal waste identified for the taxpayer
This week marks the first anniversary of the Golden Hammer appearing in The Washington Times. We thought we’d take a step back and see what that’s meant for you, the taxpayer. After all the Golden Hammer has been awarded to more than two dozen federal agencies, offices, departments and organizations.
