US Senator finds $US30b in 'wasteful' spending Senator Tom Coburn outlines his annual Wastebook in Washington. Washington: Once a year, Republican Senator Tom Coburn releases his "Wastebook," a report that highlights what he says are wasteful and unquestioned government programs. This year, he's found $US30 billion ($34 billion) of what he calls egregious federal spending. "We've had the Defence Department and people in the other non-defence discretionary departments screaming 'the cupboard is bare'," Coburn said. There's nothing else to cut. The fact is that just isn't true. There's the truly ludicrous (a $US125,000 3D pizza printer for astronauts) to the mildly ludicrous (a State Department effort to get liked on Facebook). And, apparently, the US government doesn't know about this newfangled thing called Google. While some of us can type in the word "infrastructure" and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service is spending $US50 million to look up easily accessible stuff. The US tax code allows for the deduction of certain medical procedures if they're necessary for work - and brothels in Nevada claimed $US17.5 million in exemptions for such necessities as breast implants. Earlier this year, US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel wailed that because of the mandatory spending cuts under sequestration, "we risk fielding a force that is unprepared." But Coburn has found plenty of savings he could use to prepare it. He says the Pentagon is leaving 2000 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, which cost $US500,000 each, in Afghanistan to be destroyed after US forces withdraw. Then there's the Army's $US297 million "mega-blimp," or long endurance multi-intelligence vehicle, which was intended for Afghanistan but made only one trip: a short flight over New Jersey. As spending headed toward $US300 million, the military sold it to a private contractor at the fire-sale price of $US301,000. Another $US10 million was spent on Superman movie tie-ins. Who green-lighted the Popular Romance Project? The National Endowment for the Humanities has given $US914,000 to a study of the origins of romance. Meanwhile, FBI agents are ready for their close-up, spending $US1.5 million each year to educate Hollywood producers and writers on how to portray the agency. The almost bankrupt US Postal Service has paid $US556,000 to the futurist Faith Popcorn to envision a viable future for itself. And New York and New Jersey took $US65 million in Superstorm Sandy emergency relief money to make television ads to encourage people to visit.