A DOGE lawmaker is blowing the whistle on over $1.2 million worth of federal funds spent on studying the drinking and sex habits of Super Bowl watchers.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been working to uncover federal waste and slash it from federal balance sheets.
This week DOGE claims it canceled federal subscriptions to the New York Times, cut off funding for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and terminated millions in consulting contracts.
During these reviews Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) came across some shocking Super Bowl-related expenditure ahead of this weekend's big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans.
'We've been focusing on the Super Bowl, and what we have seen is about $1.2 million spent by the National Institutes of Health on a pair of studies to figure out if there is more binge drinking on Super Bowl Sunday, and then if there is a baby boom nine months later in the winning team city,' Ernst told DailyMail.com.
These eye-popping National Institute of Health (NIH) projects were approved strictly to determine the health outcomes after the Super Bowl.
One 2017 study titled 'Super Bowl Babies': Do Counties with Super Bowl Winning Teams Experience Increases in Births Nine Months Later' received a staggering $710,000 dollars from NIH.
The other shocking scientific study published in 2014 was titled 'Super Bowl Sunday: Risky Business for At-Risk (Male) Drinkers' and it received $563,800.
Another NIH study that costed $710,000 to determine if more babies are born in the area around the Super Bowl winning team's area. The results showed there was no pattern of increased births in Super Bowl-winning areas
'So I guess they're trying to find out if people are really, really happy after celebrating,' Ernst joked.
But the massive amount of money spent on the research is no laughing matter, she added.
The Republican wondered 'if there's a certain tie to a university or someone's alma mater,' which could have prompted such surprising spending to be doled out.
'The NIH, maybe they just think, well, we've got the money, so we're going to spend it. Well, what I would be saying right now is, I'm sorry you're not going to get that money anymore because you've wasted it.'
'Why are we spending tax dollars on this?' Ernst continued. 'I can't understand what the good is for the American people.'
The results from the studies findings are just as shocking than the actual expenditures, however.
The $710,000 baby boom study was a total bust.
It found that there was no consistent pattern of increased births in the counties where the Super Bowl winning teams were located.
The Caesars Superdome is seen ahead of Super Bowl LIX, where the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 7, 2025
Mike Murphy, of Brooklyn, and his wife Kerry Flynn, walks past members of the Louisiana National Guard and Louisiana State Police amidst heightened security on Bourbon Street Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025
The drinking study, meanwhile, did find that men who drink a lot tend to drink more on Super Bowl Sunday than their average Saturday.
In fact, the study found that these men drank on average two to three more alcoholic beverages than normal during the big game.
'These findings suggest that heavy drinking during the Super Bowl (and in association with other sporting events), particularly among men, warrants additional attention due to the potential for deleterious public health consequences,' the study found.
Essentially, NIH spent over half a million dollars to confirm that, yes, men drink more alcohol on Super Bowl Sunday.
What a waste of taxpayer money. Who gives a shit if a drunk drinks more alcohol on Super Bowl Sunday.
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