Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Releases the Festivus 2025 Report

On December 23, 2025, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released his annual Festivus report, which cites a total of $1.6 trillion in unnecessary federal spending, including $1.22 trillion in interest payments on the national debt.

The report cites $77 million for Department of Defense (DOD)’s outdated Marine Mammal Program, which trains dolphins and sea lions to fulfill battlefield objectives.  The animals have long been replaced with aquatic drones.  Other smaller, but not less baffling, wasteful expenditures include the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s $1.9 million to promote “a hybrid mobile phone family intervention designed to reduce childhood obesity […] in Los Angeles County,” and $1.5 million to pay TikTok influencers to produce anti-drug messages for South Florida.  HHS also spent $2.1 million for researchers to collect saliva samples and conduct surveys at electronic dance music clubs and festivals in New York City about drug usage.

While the House Budget Committee, which has announced a second reconciliation package, should consult the Festivus 2025 report, they should also include other cost-cutting recommendations.  For example, eliminating the failed Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and reforming the 340B Drug Discount Program will save taxpayers $13 billion over five years.  Identifying and selling the underused federal real property will save $15 billion in five years, and eliminating duplicative regional development agencies will save $1.4 billion over the same period.

Fiscally responsible legislators realize that fighting against government waste never stops, and that the opportunity to save every single penny matters.  As Sen. Paul said, “Fiscal responsibility may not be the most crowded road, but it’s one I’ve walked year after year.”  That road should be filled with dozens of members of Congress who will join and win the battles against wasteful spending.