Loosely watched programs waste billions

Once again, millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent in ways that raise serious questions about government's ability to monitor major funding items.

In this case, the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded grants totaling more than $2 billion to a variety of not-for-profit groups, some of which have little to do with the environment and some of which have furthered their cause by suing the EPA.

Officials in the General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, say the questionable grants uncovered by The Associated Press were rarely audited by the EPA. Moreover, the grants were used by some agencies for unallowable activities such as lobbying the federal government.

It's hard to say how much money is similarly wasted by other federal agencies. And state governments are notoriously lax about what happens to grant money as well.

As the federal government returns to deficit budgets and as state governments look to tax increases, it seems like some way could be found to stop some of the leaks in tax-supported grant programs.