Many of the photos were removed due to copyright restrictions. Welcome to the first annual release of the Federal Fumbles report! Our national debt is careening toward $19 trillion (yes, that is a 19 followed by 12 zeros), and federal regulations are expanding at a record pace. Meanwhile families struggle to get home loans, and small businesses struggle to make ends meet. States are constantly handed unfunded mandates and executive fiats that they are forced to implement with minimal direction and no way to pay for them. I present this report as a demonstration of ways we can cut back on wasteful federal spending and burdensome regulations to help families, small businesses, and our economy begin to get out from under the weight of federal stagnation. Cited here are not only prime examples of wasteful spending, but also federal departments or agencies that regulate outside the scope of the federal government's constitutional role. I firmly believe my staff and I have the obligation to solve the troubles of our nation, not just complain, which is why for every problem identified, you will also find a recommended solution. There is a way to eliminate wasteful, ineffective, or duplicative program spending; develop oversight methods to prevent future waste; and find ways to get us back on track.

Federal Fumbles Volume 5: Ways the Government Dropped the BallUS Senator James Lankford Thank you for taking the time to read through Volume 5 of Federal Fumbles. This year I want to focus on something specific: Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which grants Congress the power of the purse. It is Congress's duty-my duty-to set spending caps and ultimately appropriate those dollars to fund our federal government. This is a more than $1 trillion annual task that I do not take lightly. It should be done wisely and on time. As you may recall from Volume 4 of Federal Fumbles, I have been engaged with a bipartisan working group to offer real and practical solutions to fix our budget process-one that has worked only four times since 1974. Part of reforming our budget process also involves how and when Congress actually funds the government. To that end my primary focus has been on my bipartisan solution to end government shutdowns once and for all. This solution is headed toward the end zone, and you can learn more on page 7. This volume of Federal Fumbles does not stop with our broken budget process. In fact, that is just thebeginning. In the pages ahead, you'll read some shocking information about the money different agencies spend on researching various aspects of Russian life (including their sea lions), a $445.9 million annual Fumble at our southern border, and billions of dollars wasted in so-called tax extenders. What do you think of that Tesla next to you at the stoplight? Glad you like it since you helped purchase it. You'll also learn how commonsense proposals to fund our inland ports and public lands are actuallycomplicated ploys that take massive advantage of your tax dollars-to the tune of billions of dollars eachyear. I will continue to press for other government reform solutions, including the Taxpayers Right-to-KnowAct and the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act. These two bills willoffer unprecedented transparency into the way your tax dollars are actually spent. We need to maintain a spotlight on federal spending no matter what's making headlines in Washington.Regardless of the political noise of the day, we cannot forget about the $23 trillion national debt. I continue to fight against that debt each and every day, and I will continue to work through practical solutions for the sake of our country and future generations.

In the tradition of Senator Tom Coburn's Wastebook, this is Senator James Lankford's Federal Fumbles: 100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball Volume 3, 2017 Edition. Over the last 11 months, Congress and the new Administration have worked to roll back many of the burdensome regulations put in place by the last Administration and highlighted in previous editions of Federal Fumbles. Using the Congressional Review Act, Congress was able to repeal 14 overly burdensome or needless regulations put in place during the waning days of the Obama Administration. As a result, the businesses or individuals affected by the regulations will save $34.8 billion and more than 4.2 million hours of paperwork. As is custom for new Administrations, in January 2017 the President ordered a temporary freeze on the implementation of new regulations.3 The Administration also reviewed existing regulations and found more than 850 regulatory actions that could be revoked or withdrawn.4 In just the first half of 2017, federal agencies withdrew or rolled back 469 agency actions that had been announced in the fall of 2016 and cut in half the number of planned regulations that will have an impact of more than $100 million a year on our economy. While we made tremendous progress in alleviating the regulatory burden on the American economy, we have work to do in reforming how the federal government utilizes your tax dollars. In FY16, the federal government collected $3.267 trillion in taxes. That includes income taxes, corporate taxes, Social Security, and unemployment. Unfortunately, it spent $3.852 trillion, a deficit of $584 billion. Since FY09, the federal government spent $7.2 trillion more than it has taken in. Congress has yet to agree on how to stop overspending, which is why the federal government is almost $20 trillion in debt today. As Congress and the Administration turn to a new year, it is incumbent upon both to display the courage and the willingness to make the difficult decisions that will rein in our out-of-control federal spending. It is unacceptable that a child born in the US today will become a citizen of a country in which his or her share of the national debt is more than $165,000. Without a major change in the way Congress operates, that amount will only go up in the years ahead. Included in Federal Fumbles is just a sampling of instances where federal agencies or departments have wasted or inefficiently used billions of your dollars. The program and grant funding discussed in this book has already been allocated or spent and cannot be recovered. But highlighting it here provides lessons for agencies and hopefully encourages Congress to utilize its oversight and legislative authority to prevent future waste and misuse of federal tax dollars. All Members of Congress and their staffs should be able to utilize this book as they consider budget requests, hold oversight hearings, and discuss reform legislation. As the people's representative and voice in Washington, it is our responsibility to provide a check against the spending and regulatory habits of federal agencies. For federal agencies, this book provides multiple opportunities to improve their operations. Many of the grants highlighted in this book are instances in which agencies have funded projects either outside their domain or without a direct national interest. Several of the entries in this book involve instances in which agencies have spent taxpayer dollars before engaging in effective planning to ensure the item or program is feasible, cost effective, or even possible. That can and should be easily fixed. Americans rightly expect great things from their leaders in Washington. I offer this book as a guide for elected officials of both parties to identify areas of improvement so we may come together to do the work our constituents expect and our country deserves.

Oklahoma State Senator James Lankford examines 100 excessive and wasteful programs and regulations of the federal government. Each entry identifies whether it is either a spending or a regulation issue, names the federal government department responsible for its funding, provides the cost of the program or regulation, i.e. the government's "fumble", and how elected government officials should address the situation and "recover the ball."

Senator James Lankford Federal Fumbles 100 Ways the Government Dropped the Ball Over the last 11 months, Congress and the new Administration have worked to roll back many of the burdensome regulations put in place by the last Administration and highlighted in previous editions of Federal Fumbles. Using the Congressional Review Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, Congress was able to repeal 14 overly burdensome or needless regulations put in place during the waning days of the Obama Administration. As a result, the businesses or individuals affected by the regulations will save $34.8 billion and more than 4.2 million hours of paperwork. As is custom for new Administrations, in January 2017 the President ordered a temporary freeze on the implementation of new regulations. The Administration also reviewed existing regulations and found more than 850 regulatory actions that could be revoked or withdrawn. In just the first half of 2017, federal agencies withdrew or rolled back 469 agency actions that had been announced in the fall of 2016 and cut in half the number of planned regulations that will have an impact of more than $100 million a year on our economy. While we made tremendous progress in alleviating the regulatory burden on the American economy, we have work to do in reforming how the federal government utilizes your tax dollars. In FY16, the federal government collected $3.267 trillion in taxes. That includes income taxes, corporate taxes, Social Security, and unemployment. Unfortunately, it spent $3.852 trillion, a deficit of $584 billion. Since FY09, the federal government spent $7.2 trillion more than it has taken in.8 Congress has yet to agree on how to stop overspending, which is why the federal government is almost $20 trillion in debt today. As Congress and the Administration turn to a new year, it is incumbent upon both to display the courage and the willingness to make the difficult decisions that will rein in our out-of-control federal spending. It is unacceptable that a child born in the US today will become a citizen of a country in which his or her share of the national debt is more than $165,000. Without a major change in the way Congress operates, that amount will only go up in the years ahead. Included in Federal Fumbles is just a sampling of instances where federal agencies or departments have wasted or inefficiently used billions of your dollars. The program and grant funding discussed in this book has already been allocated or spent and cannot be recovered. But highlighting it here provides lessons for agencies and hopefully encourages Congress to utilize its oversight and legislative authority to prevent future waste and misuse of federal tax dollars.

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Federal Fumbles: Ways the Federal Government Dropped the Ball Vol. 4 2019 includes some pretty significant changes to the book this year. Since the first edition in 2015, Federal Fumbles has focused on government waste, which has generally meant a waste of your tax dollars. This year, Federal Fumbles takes a different approach to "waste." The focus is not only on waste of your tax dollars but also on waste in good government policy that prevents the federal government from working for you-or more recently, from working at all due to the longest government shutdown in American history.Our national debt continues to increase and our budget process remains broken. We have officially reached a staggering $22 trillion in national debt. Even with a booming economy, Congress cannot seem to curb annual deficits or fund our government on time. Highlighting issues in previous Fumbles volumes ("Doggy Hamlet," anyone?) only goes so far. This year Federal Fumbles highlights substantial reforms to government programs that not only save tax dollars but provide more transparent and efficient programs for you and your family. We need relief from our national debt and clarity in other complex issues currently facing our nation, but we also need to promote big ideas for big solutions for big reform.Too often, complicated issues like our federal budget process and immigration are clouded with misinformation, convoluted figures, and partisan angles. This year's edition of Fumbles works to break those big issues down for you. Every issue highlighted in this book comes with a solution. In order to fix many of government's fumbles, we must be transparent and real about facts instead of driving home a political agenda. These are exceptionally difficult times in government. Let's use Fumbles to help resolve some of the most pressing and costly problems facing our country while protecting your tax dollars.The goal for this book is to make it a resource for taxpayers and the entire federal government. Congress, federal agencies, and the White House should all take a look at the content covered in this book and the solutions presented. Washington works for the American people and must be held accountable by the American people. Fumbles outlines a set of ideas about ways we can work together to make that happen.