John Hart On Wasteful Government Spending: Americans Deserve Transparency

Federalist Radio Hour

Radio America

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, John Hart, chief executive officer of nonprofit transparency organization OpentheBooks, joins Federalist Senior Elections Correspondent Matt Kittle to discuss wasteful government spending, implications of the ongoing shutdown, and the need for increased government transparency.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And we are back with another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle's senior
0:24.2	elections correspondent at The Federalist and your experience Sherpa on today's quest for knowledge.
0:30.5	As always, you can email the show at radio at thefederalist.com. Follow us on X at FDR. LST. Make sure to subscribe wherever you
0:41.0	download your podcast and of course the premium version of our website as well. Our guest
0:46.6	today is open the book CEO John Hart. The government spending tracker has been monitoring
0:52.6	the shutdown mess the health care spending bill
0:55.8	Dems are dying on and the worst waste in safety net spending. It's a lot to unpack. John,
1:03.8	thank you so much for joining us in this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. You bet. It's a pleasure
1:08.3	to be on. This is directly from the good folks at Open the Books.
1:13.5	Picture this. You walk into a bank and ask for $37.5 trillion, and they hand it over. No questions asked.
1:21.8	You come back again and again for more, and no one ever asks for receipts.
1:30.4	It sounds absurd, yet that's exactly how Washington operates. Every year, the federal government burns through trillions in taxpayer dollars with virtually
1:36.0	zero accountability from birdwatching programs to DEI-themed musicals overseas.
1:48.0	We kid you not. Now that the government's fiscal year has ended, and we are into our 16th day of the government shutdown as we record this,
1:55.1	openthebooks.com, the nation's largest database of federal spending is calling for real transparency.
2:02.3	And what have you heard so far on that front, John, from the folks responsible for that
2:07.4	transparency.
2:07.9	Well, exactly.
2:08.3	Yeah.
2:08.6	Look, we're a fan of transparency.
2:10.7	You know, the metaphor I use is that, you know, transparency cuts through government,
2:15.8	like water cuts through stone.
	...

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