Are you packing up the car and heading “Over the River and Through the Woods” to spend time with relatives? Are you the relative who is doing all the cooking this year? Or are you responsible for one side dish for a “Friendsgiving” at a place right in your neighborhood? Are you watching American football, the other football – the World Cup, or the National Dog Show? (We’re budget watchdogs, so yes, some of us will be watching our beautiful brethren in Philadelphia.)

Whatever your plans, make sure you sit down at the Thanksgiving table with plenty of fun facts on hand to keep the conversation lively. Because we love a listicle at Taxpayers for Common Sense, this Weekly Wastebasket uses a Thanksgiving table to highlight special interests and the people who lobby for them. Hopefully you learn at least one new thing!

• Thanksgiving Table: Before you take your seat, make sure you aren’t settling up to a buffet top made with wood from a money-losing timber sale. From FY1980-2019, on average the Forest Service lost $44 million per year on underwater timber sales in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. That’s right, taxpayers frequently lose money selling the timber we all own.
• Centerpiece: Cornucopia sure describes the likely end-of-year omnibus of all twelve spending bills that fund government each year combined into one massive package.
• Silverware and the like: Back in 2019, industry lobbyists ensured the vast Pentagon procurement system must buy domestic plates, cups, and silverware. Reps. Brindisi (D-NY) and McKinley (R-WV) pushed through a statutory requirement to apply “Buy American” provisions to all silverware and plates purchased by the Pentagon. Mr. Brindisi represents a district with a flatware manufacturer and Mr. McKinley one with a major pottery. It’s not like either is a booming domestic industry, so these were – in effect – backdoor earmarks for their constituents.
• Turkey/Tofurkey: Need to dodge a question about politics? Try changing the subject to turkey subsidies. Yes, there are disaster subsidies for turkey producers, due to disease or adverse weather, plus millions in turkey-related COVID-19 aid. If you’re substituting Tofurkey instead, don’t worry. The ag lobby has you covered with billions in soybean subsidies as well.
• Sweet potatoes: Lawmakers love covering up horrible policies and spending bills with a little (or a lot of) sugar on top. Earmarks, anyone? Lawmakers are increasingly topping up existing federal programs with more subsidies as well. From agriculture disaster and profit margin protection subsidies (just for farms), to a myriad of “shallow loss” subsidies, taxpayers would be better off without any of these sweeteners. In the case of the not-so-appetizing sweet potato dish, throw some marshmallows (subsidized corn syrup and the cane/beet sugar cartel) , and both grandpa and the farm lobby will be happy campers.
• Gravy: Turkey too dry? We all know a little gravy on top will do the trick. Fossil fuels too dirty? How about a little CCS gravy to choke them down? Carbon capture and storage sounds appetizing, but it hasn’t been very good for our fiscal health. Not only is CCS technology unproven and expensive, but programs supporting it, like the 45Q tax credit, have a rich history of fraud and abuse. Taxpayers should pass on CCS.
• Stuffing: What’s everyone’s favorite food on the Thanksgiving table? Stuffing! Lobbyists also love stuffing pet provisions into so-called “must pass” legislation at the end of the year. This year there are several potential vehicles: the aforementioned omnibus cornucopia of annual spending bills to keep the federal government operating, the annual Pentagon policy bill, and a bill to raise the national debt limit. All are targets for non-germane provisions like tax extenders, a water resources bill stuffed with parochial projects, and an excessive “emergency” disaster supplemental. We’ll be watching for and reporting on those.
• Eat your vegetables: Mom says you should eat those green beans and peas because they’re good for you. Maybe if you distract her with a discussion of “base acres” versus “planted acres” in farm subsidy programs, she will forget to keep prodding. For decades farm lobbyists have inserted confusing language into farm bills resulting in base acre commodity subsidies for dry peas and other crops like corn and wheat – but not green vegetables. For the fresh market beans and green peas of the world, taxpayers dole out crop insurance subsidies, tied to actual planted Did you confuse mom yet? You’ll get another go at it next year when lawmakers look to add even more layers in yet another farm bill. Success!
• Pie: Pumpkin? Pecan? Mincemeat? They’re all covered, absent a spending bill or continuing resolution at the end of the fiscal year the government turns into a pumpkin (shuts down); Pecans – you guessed it – they get ag subsidy dollars; and Mincemeat – that’s pretty much what has happened to regular order on spending bills. They haven’t been passed individually and on time (so-called regular order) since 1994.
• Thanksgiving Dishes: Just like any considerate guest wouldn’t dare stick the Thanksgiving chef with all the dirty dishes, we shouldn’t invite oil and gas companies to drill on federal lands if they refuse to clean up the mess they leave behind. But because of outdated bonding rates, taxpayers – not operators – are often left with the costs of cleaning up dangerous and potentially hazardous abandoned wells after the companies have had their fill.

So, there you have it – a Thanksgiving twist on various budget policies, programs, and subsidies. There is still a lot of activity likely to happen before the 118^th Congress takes their oath in January. We’ll do our part to ensure taxpayers, not special interests, have a seat at the table.