“I’ve been fighting government waste, fraud and abuse for more than 18 years and this is the first time I’ve seen anyone take a camera inside the belly of the beast to expose Washington’s dirty secrets.”
“Finally. Someone is showing the problem from the inside out.
And isn’t it shocking?”
“If you really knew what career politicians were doing,
most of us wouldn’t get re-elected.”
“Despite what you hear about deficits and screaming about money, there’s a lot of money on the table out there.
If we don’t apply others will and you can walk in and look at their exhibits.”
“If you want to do something really spectacular, do a totally green building.
Oh my gosh, they cannot give money fast enough for that.”
Filmed over the last 5 years, MUSEUM OF GOVERNMENT WASTE follows regular citizens Jim and Ellen Hubbard as they travel to Washington, DC in the ultimate quest to find out why the federal government is spending our country into bankruptcy. In an effort to get behind the closed doors of Capitol Hill and see how and why Congress really makes its decisions, Jim and Ellen decide to run an experiment. read more »
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They’ll recruit someone to become a part of the process. It’s called “participant observation,” a technique used by researchers to gain knowledge of the inner-workings of a culture by actually taking part in the culture. They tap radio host Greg Knapp, a regular guy with a wife and two kids who lives in the burbs and makes a living asking the tough questions. The Hubbards give Greg a task: try to get an earmark* for a ridiculous project: the Museum of Government Waste—an actual building that would be dedicated to the American taxpayer and filled with “homages” to the $500 hammer, the $10 thousand toilet seat, and that $400 million Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere. The Museum’s cafeteria would serve nothing but pork!
As the experiment progresses farther than Greg and the Hubbards ever expect, their efforts become increasingly more sophisticated and their quest more serious. They don hidden cameras and meet with lobbyists who instruct them to break the law. They go undercover and meet with Republican Congressional staff who assure them that despite earmarks recently being banned in the House and Senate, there’s still plenty of federal funds for their museum project. The Hubbards’ experiment gives new meaning to the saying, “be careful what you wish for” as Ellen and Greg eventually find themselves face to face with one of Washington’s most powerful players–and realize they just might get their anti-earmark earmark after all.
Often referred to in the federal budget as “pork,” earmarks are “provisions in Congressional legislation that allocate a specified amount of money for a specific project, program or organization.” Put simply, it’s our government spending billions of our tax dollars on things like swine odor research, a teapot museum in North Carolina and the World Toilet Summit in Ireland.
