Allen West Rips State Department for Spending on Booze, Not Benghazi

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., ripped into State Department expenses in an email sent out to supporters on Wednesday night.

The government is having a party ... and the drinks are on you, West wrote. While the government was preparing to shut down and furlough workers across the country, the State Department was enjoying a drinking binge!

Last year, the State Department spent more than $400,000 on liquor, West continued. Under Obama's watch, the State Department's liquor bill has tripled compared to the last year of the Bush administration, leaving American taxpayers with a massive hangover. Making matters worse, some of the more extravagant purchases were last-minute orders just before the shutdown, like the $22,416 we spent for wine in Tokyo and $15,900 for bourbon in Moscow. The embassy in Rio managed to squeeze in almost $6,000 for wine on the day the shutdown began.

The party's over, West continued. Obama's officials are living the high life and you and I are footing the bill. What would an extra $400,000 in funds have done to secure our embassy in Benghazi against terrorist assaults? Sadly, they may have had better luck getting bottles of booze to hurl at attackers than a fence to keep them out. America can do better.

West, a favorite of the tea party movement, has opened the door to a political comeback in 2016.