Rand Paul’s 2025 Festivus Report Features Hundreds of Millions in Waste Exposed By WCW

Posted by Meg McCarney
23 December 2025 | Blog

 

  • For the seventh year in a row, Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Festivus Report features millions in wasteful government animal experiments uncovered by White Coat Waste (WCW).
  • Sen. Paul writes: “White Coat Waste helped us uncover hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars funding labs, gain-of-function research, and brutal experiments on dogs, monkeys, and rats. That includes over $13.8 million on beagle experiments, $14,643,280 to make monkeys play a “Price Is Right”-inspired video game, and so much more.”
  • Last year’s Festivus Report featured WCW’s exposé on $10 million cat constipation experiments funded by the Pentagon—a contract that was cut months later by the Trump administration following our work with Sen. Paul and others. 
  • Sen. Paul’s report provides a reliable roadmap for Congress and the Trump administration to cut reckless spending.

Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Festivus Report, which lampoons ridiculous government spending, has become an annual traditionas has his habit of spotlighting needless animal experiments exposed by White Coat Waste (WCW). This yearfor the seventh year in a rowis no different, and it’s going VIRAL! 

The introduction to Sen. Paul’s 2025 installment of the Festivus report reads: “White Coat Waste helped us uncover hundreds of millions of your hard-earned tax dollars funding labs, gain-of-function research, and brutal experiments on dogs, monkeys, and rats. That includes over $13.8 million on beagle experiments, $14,643,280 to make monkeys play a “Price Is Right”-inspired video game, and so much more.”

The spendthrift agencies include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Defense (DOD).


The report features these recent WCW exposés that unearthedand in some cases endedwasteful animal experiments, including:  


Sen. Paul also revisits WCW’s Coke Hounds investigation, which he included in his 2022 Festivus Report and highlighted in a Senate floor speech on wasteful spending. Back then, the NIH’s cocaine tests on beagles had only wasted $2.3 million. Records obtained by WCW reveal that the price tag on that ongoing project is now up to a cool $5.2 millionand the NIH has added methamphetamine injections to the mix. 

In addition to featuring WCW’s past investigations, Sen. Paul’s new report also highlights other waste uncovered by WCW:

  • $1 million wasted by the Department of Veterans Affairs to create binge-drinking ferrets 
  • $14.6 million doled out by the DOD, NIH, and the NSF to drill into monkeys’ skulls and force them to play a game inspired by “The Price is Right” 

Sen. Paul’s report provides a reliable roadmap of reckless spending for Congress and the Trump administration to put on the chopping block.   

Last year’s Festivus Report included WCW’s investigations of wasteful cat tests, including a $10 million DOD grant to shove marbles up cats’ butts and then electroshock them in constipation experiments. 

The contract was subsequently canceled by Trump’s DOD following our campaign and work with Sen. Paul, who publicly thanked WCW for exposing the project. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth even cited the Navy-funded cat constipation experiments as a prime example of senseless spending during a Senate hearing. 

Is this how you want your money spent? 

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