'Sesame Street' in Pakistan? Congress Paves Way to Waste

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., issued a report Tuesday detailing billions of dollars in questionable -- and arguably ridiculous -- appropriations in the latest federal budget.

Among the highlights of the year:

• $120 million in checks continued to be sent by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to dead federal employees.
• The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development will send $17.8 million in foreign aid to China -- even as that country enjoys a far lower debt-to-GDP ratio than the United States and owns billions of dollars of U.S. debt.
• A $484,000 federal grant to a private developer to build a drug-themed Mellow Mushroom Pizza shop in Arlington, Texas.
• $10 million to the U.S. Agency for International Development to commission a remake of Sesame Street for Pakistan.
• $550,000 to produce a documentary about how rock and roll music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Over the past 12 months, Washington politicians argued, debated and lamented how to rein in the federal government's out-of-control spending. All the while, Washington was on a shopping binge, spending money we do not need, like the $6.9 billion worth of examples provided in this report," Coburn said.

"The result: Instead of cutting wasteful spending, nearly $2.5 billion was added each day in 2011 to our national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion."