Congress' 'wasteful' spend-a-thon: By the numbers

It's time for mistletoe, gratuitous holiday presents, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)'s annual report on "wasteful and low-priority" government spending. Crisply titled "Wastebook: A Guide to

Some of the Most Wasteful Government Spending in 2010," the document (available as a PDF) details the billions in taxpayer money that have been spent on dubious projects ranging from the

upkeep of an abandoned monkey house to digitizing Grateful Dead archives. In this struggling economy, writes Coburn, many Americans are "taking stock of what they can really afford. Is it so

much to expect Congress to do the same?" (Watch Coburn discuss his findings.) Here, a by-the-numbers guide to the madness (except where otherwise noted, all figures are taken directly from

the report):

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