Sen. John McCain tells
Newsmax TV he intends to keeping fighting wasteful spending in Congress, but he believes the only true way to stop it is to vote out those doing the wasting.
"I'm afraid that it's going to be elections because there are still people … remaining in the Senate and the House who have virtually made a living on these kinds of wasteful and unnecessary projects," the Arizona Republican told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner on Thursday.
"Americans have a low opinion of Congress and when they see things like this, that low opinion is validated."
Watch Newsmax TV on
DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system —
Click Here Now
He cited studies of Hello Kitty, and $50,000 spent on getting birds drunk.
"One of my favorites is the National Science Foundation spent $872,000 to study how children cross the street," he said.
McCain vowed to continue calling out what he sees as wasteful spending, saying the just-passed $1 trillion budget had "all kinds of stuff" put into defense.
"Just one example: $225 million for a ship made in Mobile, Alabama was put in by Sen. [Richard] Shelby of Alabama that the Navy neither wants nor needs," he said.
Most wasteful spending ends up in the defense budget because it is the largest appropriation bill, McCain said.
"It's the Willie Sutton syndrome," McCain said, referring to the 1930s bank robber who said he targeted banks because "that's where the money is."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.