Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, running for president as a Republican, called out a government agency Monday for apparently spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on pricey exercise equipment.
The lawmaker routinely draws attention to “egregious examples of wasteful spending throughout the U.S. government” in his “The Waste Report” series.
Paul reported Monday that it appears the National Nuclear Security Agency, part of the Department of Energy, has been spending $13,000 on treadmills for federal agents to use.
“The question remains,” Paul’s report states. “Why does the Department of Energy need the Cadillac of treadmills?”
Here’s how Paul’s report describes the expenditures:
The National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) of the Department of Energy put out a Name-Brand solicitation in February for five Woodway treadmills, with upgrades. Woodway is luxury manufacturer of treadmills; the 4Front model, which NNSA is seeking four of, retails for over $10,000, with upgrades (Personal Training Display Board, +10% incline and +2.5 mph top speed) adding $3,900 per-unit according to a Woodway pricing guide.
The solicitation states that NNSA planned to “utilize the treadmills to qualify Federal Agents on the running requirements established by the NNSA …” The Federal Agents here are Nuclear Materials Couriers, who according to an NNSA recruiting brochure must pass a minimum standard in the 1-mile and a 40-yard dash run, every six months. Perhaps the standard warranting such a high-end treadmill is the ability to outrun nuclear radiation in the event of an accident?
The solicitation indicates these treadmills will service approximately 500 Agents. By comparison Livestrong.com reports that the average Gold’s Gym has approximately 5000 members. They also report Anytime Fitness typically uses LifeFitness 93 or 95ti treadmills which run (no pun intended) around $4,000.