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Feds had $3.3B furniture splurge during COVID, bought solar-powered picnic tables, leather recliners
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $237,960 on roughly 30 solar-powered picnic tables while the vast majority of its workforce stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The State Department paid more than $117,250 for as many as 40 luxurious Ethan Allen leather recliners to fill its embassy building in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks.com revealed the furniture splurge in a study published Tuesday, which also cited a Government Accountability Office report that found 17 of the 24 federal agencies are using as little as 9% and as much as 49% of their building capacities well into the fourth year of the pandemic.
In one particularly “egregious example,” the group said the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation spent nearly $15 million on new furniture — or $14,400 for each of its 1,000 employees.
The Environmental Protection Agency also shelled out $6.5 million for trendy furniture even as it downsized to move into a 300,000-square-foot office space at Four Penn Central in Philadelphia.
Last edited by BFR - 23 hours ago
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