Federal government blows $4.6M on lobster tails and crab in single month
Openthebooks.com CEO Adam Andrzejewski on how the federal government went on a “use it or lose it” spending spree in 2018.
Federal government employees chowed down on $4.6 million worth of lobster tail and crab in a single month last year, according to a report from Open the Books.
The spending spree was part of a use-it-or-lose-it binge at the end of fiscal year 2018, the group said, which occurs every year as agencies use up their budgeted money by Sept. 30 so that they don’t get less money the following year.
“More than half of [the spending] was in the last week,” Openthebooks.com CEO Adam Andrzejewski told FOX Business. “Incredibly, one out of every 10 contracts procured during the entire year was spent in the last week.”
The landmarks of the nation's capital are silhoutted in the haze and high humidity of a hot summer day in Washington. Viewed from an overlook in Virginia above the Potomac River are, from left, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the Capito …
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, federal agencies spend, on average, 4.9 times more in the last week of the fiscal year than in a typical week.
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Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst complained about the annual spending spree in a speech on the Senate floor in September.
“‘Tis the season in Washington,” Ernst said. “Government agencies are going on their annual ‘Christmas in September, use-it or lose-it’ shopping spree. If not spent by midnight on Sept. 30, leftover dollars expire and can no longer be used.”
FOX Business’ Megan Henney and Henry Fernandez contributed to this report.
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