State Department Spent $140,000 On Booze For Foreign Leaders As Government Planned To Kick U.S. Vets Out Of Memorials Because Of Shutdown

December 3, 2013 by Sam Rolley

As Federal officials shrieked endlessly about the dire effect the government shutdown would have on the American public, the State Department was busy racking up a massive bar tab stocking up on liquor for embassies around the word.
According to an analysis conducted by The Washington Times, the State Department spent $180,000 in taxpayer money on booze in September alone as the fiscal year’s end approached.
“This is what taxpayers don’t understand,” Dave Williams, president of the nonprofit Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told the newspaper. “You have a looming government shutdown but then you have a ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ mentality where someone is spending tens of thousands of dollars because they have to.
“If you’re a family or a business and you’re getting ready for a potential loss of revenue, the first thing you do is get rid of the parties,” he said. “It’s symbolic.”
According to the report, the State Department spent more than $400,000 on booze for dignitaries over the course of the entire fiscal year.
The Times lists a few of the expenditures thusly:
$5,625 in “gratuity wine” at the embassy in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 29, followed by $5,925 in “gratuity whiskey” on the day the shutdown began.
$22,416 in wine at the embassy in Tokyo.
$15,900 in bourbon and whiskey in Moscow.
A representative of the State Department said that to scrutinize the booze purchases made for diplomats just before park officials kicked veterans out of war memorials due to the shutdown would be an “oversimplification” of matters.
“The United States wishes to make the best impression in its dealings with foreign governments and other groups and carries out lawfully its representational activities, including its diplomatic receptions, in as effective and as culturally appropriate a manner as possible,” a statement from the agency said.

Filed Under: Liberty News, Staff Reports

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