Busted: Ernst Law Forces Washington to Come Clean on Billion-Dollar Boondoggles

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Joni Ernst's (R-Iowa) Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act is now law, signed today by President Trump. It requires the federal government to publicly report every project that is $1 billion or more over budget or five or more years behind schedule.

The law arrives as Ernst exposes five new boondoggles that together total nearly $100 billion over budget. These boondoggles are in addition to those she exposed in her 2025 Off the Rails report, which found $162.9 billion in cost overruns on federally funded projects.

"Washington math doesn't add up, but my Billion Dollar Boondoggle law will restore accountability to its shady accounting. Taxpayers deserve this transparency, and it will protect them from being put on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars sunk into failed and mismanaged projects plagued by massive cost overruns and never-ending delays," said Sen. Ernst.

"While government boondoggles abound, the term is now officially in the law books for the first time. No politician wants their prized pet project to carry that label, but now there's no escaping it," Sen. Ernst added.

The five additional boondoggles:

• F-35 Modernization (Department of War): $89.5 billion over budget since being rebased in 2012, increasing from $395.7 billion to $485.2 billion, and five years behind schedule, now expected in 2031.
• Hudson River Tunnel (Department of Transportation): $3 billion over budget, increasing from $12.7 billion to $15.7 billion, and three years behind schedule, now expected in 2038.
• Rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge (Department of Transportation): Up to $3.5 billion over budget, increasing from as low as $1.7 billion to as high as $5.2 billion, and two years behind schedule, now expected in 2030.
• Saturn Dragonfly Spacecraft (NASA): $2.5 billion over budget, nearly quadrupling from $850 million to $3.35 billion, and more than two years behind schedule, now expected in July 2028.
• Palo Alto VA Medical Center (Department of Veterans Affairs): $1.2 billion over budget, increasing from $450.3 million to $1.6 billion, and 21 years behind schedule, now expected in 2036 instead of 2015.

The law builds on the Trump administration's efforts to rein in runaway project costs. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been leading the way, providing Ernst with the Department's data on over-budget and delayed projects, and pulling $4 billion in unspent federal funding from California's high-speed rail project.

Ernst led the bill in the Senate with Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) championed it in the House. The bill passed both chambers of Congress before heading to the President's desk. Hassan and Miller-Meeks joined Ernst in celebrating the new law.

"Granite Staters deserve to know that their hard-earned tax-dollars are being spent responsibly," said Sen. Hassan. "This commonsense, bipartisan bill will give the public greater visibility into how their tax dollars are being used and it will help Congress identify wasteful spending. I am pleased to see this bill signed into law and I will continue working with my colleagues of both parties to protect taxpayer dollars and increase government transparency."

"Washington has gotten far too comfortable wasting the taxpayers' money, and that ends with transparency and accountability," said Rep. Miller-Meeks. "Senator Ernst and I worked together to give Congress and the American people greater visibility into federal projects that go over budget and fall behind schedule. I'm proud to see our bipartisan Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act signed into law, and I thank Senator Ernst for her partnership in getting this across the finish line. Taxpayers work too hard for their money to see it wasted in Washington, and they deserve to know that every dollar is being spent responsibly."

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