( CNN ) -- Monkeys taught how to gamble and play video games . People paid to watch grass grow . Swedish massages given to rabbits . Half of $ 1 million spent on a video game that is now helping terrorists train for missions . And $ 1 billion spent to destroy $ 16 billion worth of ammunition . These are just a few examples from the 100 entry-long list in a book detailing government waste , compiled by retiring GOP Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma . In the 2014 edition of the `` Wastebook , '' Coburn notes that getting rid of the practice of pork barrel spending is next to impossible . `` What I have learned from these experiences is Washington will never change itself , '' he said . Massages for rabbits . Some of the worst offenses listed in the book : . -- The National Institutes of Health spent $ 387,000 to give Swedish massages to rabbits with a mechanical machine . Coburn notes that the NIH has a $ 30 billion annual budget and that the director of the NIH claims an Ebola vaccine would `` probably '' be ready now but for a lack of funding . -- NASA pays Russia $ 70 million per passenger to send American astronauts to the International Space Station and back . The space agency is spending $ 3 billion on the ISS this year and will conduct studies , many proposed by elementary students , including one on the `` design and creation of better golf clubs . '' -- `` Only someone with too much of someone else 's money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up with '' a $ 10,000 program paying people to watch grass grow . That grass -- saltmarsh cordgrass , which can grow to be 7 feet tall -- was being observed in New Smyrna Beach , Florida as part of a Fish and Wildlife Service program . The National Science Foundation is a favorite target in Coburn 's book this year . The foundation spent $ 171,000 to teach monkeys how to play video games and gamble in order to `` unlock the secrets of free will , '' according to the report . Other examples include $ 5.2 million for `` voicemails from the future that warn of a post-apocalyptic world , '' $ 1.97 million for a Facebook page and P.R . for fossil enthusiasts and a $ 46,000 grant to support the annual Clean Snowmobile Challenge -- a contest to determine who can make the most environmentally friendly snowmobile . The National Science Foundation is also planning on spending $ 1.5 million to monitor Americans ' attendance at science festivals . Another $ 200,000 will go to a study meant to determine `` why Wikipedia is sexist , '' according to the Wastebook report . The State Department spends $ 90 million a year on cultural exchange programs , including one such program which sought to dispel a Pakistani journalist 's perception that Americans are `` fat , rude , and cold . '' It worked . The agencies could not immediately be reached for comment . Expensive destruction . `` The real shock and awe may have been the $ 1 billion price tag the Pentagon paid to destroy $ 16 billion worth of ammunition , enough to pay a full years ' salary for over 54,000 Army privates , '' said Coburn . The book cites Pentagon officials who said the surplus ammunition has become `` obsolete , unusable , or their use is banned by international treaty . '' The book notes a 2014 Government Accountability Office investigation which concluded poor record keeping was the reason the military purchased so much ammunition it did n't need . The Army spent nearly half a million dollars -- $ 414,000 -- to develop a video game called `` America 's Army , `` a version of which terrorists have used to train for missions , according to National Security Agency e-mails sent in 2007 and leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden . The Department of Defense is spending $ 80 million on a real-life `` Iron Man '' suit . The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit ( TALOS ) would need 365 pounds worth of batteries to power the suit , according to the `` Wastebook . '' Congress ended this fiscal year with a debt under a trillion dollars for the first time since 2008 , according to the Wastebook report , but Coburn notes that the deficit still added $ 486 billion , or half a trillion dollars , to the national debt , which is `` quickly approaching $ 18 trillion . '' Of the entries listed in his book , Coburn , who will retire in 2016 after serving two terms , asks , `` Is each of these a true national priority or could the money have been better spent on a more urgent need or not spent at all in order to reduce the burden of debt being left to be paid off by our children and grandchildren ? ''
Coburn : Getting rid of the practice of pork barrel is next to impossible . Comment: Congress ended this fiscal year with a debt under a trillion dollars .