Senator Coburn has a blistering report on CDC mismanagement. Some highlights on goofy spending:
- $1.7 million — including terrorism funds — on a Hollywood liaison program, which happens to be run by a former employee (pg. 87);
- $45 million for conferences, including those featuring prostitutes, protests, and beach parties (pgs. 48 – 60);
- $30,000 employee saunas in a new $200,000 fitness center that also includes mood-enhancing lightshows and $3,500 worth of zero-gravity chairs (pg. 15);
- $5 billion spent over seven years on HIV/AIDS prevention funding, and yet the U.S. still sees 40,000 new cases each year, with no decrease in infection rates for over a decade (pgs. 23-37);
- Syphilis prevention funds used to feature a porn star’s presentation (pg. 44);
- HIV/AIDS prevention funds spent on a transgender beauty pageant (pg. 45);
- $250,000 spent so two former employees could help build staff morale, (pgs. 100 – 101);
- $5.1 million on “audio visual integration” in the new Thomas R. Harkin communications and visitor center, including a giant 70-foot-wide by 25-foot-tall video wall of plasma screen TVs showcasing agency vignettes (pg. 8);
- 110 CDC employees traveled to two international AIDS conferences, when buying retroviral drugs with the trip funds could have prevented mother-to-child AIDS transmission for more than 115,000 infants (pgs. 50 & 52);
- New Hawaii office opening soon, announcement made by Senator from Hawaii who oversees agency’s funding (pg. 18);
- $335 million on ads to fight childhood obesity… kids saw the ads, whether or not the ads affected their behavior is another question (pgs. 69 – 71);
- $128,000 in CDC bioterrorism funds spent by L.A. County on trinkets such as letter openers, whistles, magnets, mouse pads, flashlights, pens, and travel toothbrushes (pgs. 106 – 110).