Outcry over US government’s £10 muffins
As the US government tries to find ways to cut $1.4tr from its budget, details emerge of “extravagant and potentially wasteful” spending by its justice department.
It has emerged that spending on conferences in the final days of the Bush administration and the early days of the Obama administration, included paying $16 (£10) per muffin and $8 (£5) for a cup of coffee.
In a report, the US Justice Department‘s acting inspector general, Cynthia Schnedar, said: “Some conferences featured costly meals, refreshments, and themed breaks that we believe were indicative of wasteful or extravagant spending – especially when service charges, taxes, and indirect costs are factored into the actual price paid for food and beverages.”
The report has revealed other surprising costs incurred by government during conferences. These include: $5.57 (£3.50) for a can of fizzy drink at a 2007 conference on systems for searching for missing children and $10 (£6) for cookies and brownies at a conference to train immigration lawyers.
Overall during the fiscal years 2008-9, the Justice Department spent $121m to host or participate in over 1,800 conferences. The conference with the over-priced muffins was meant to save money by serving only snack food. However the bill still came to $4,200 (£2,700) for 250 muffins and $2,880 (£1,800) for 300 cookies and brownies.