Last year the State Department ran up tabs for alcoholic beverages totaling nearly $300,000 -- about twice as much as the previous year.
The purchases, small and large, included $2,483 to pay for "assorted spirits for gratuities to vendors" at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York, and $9,501 in "Christmas gratuities" of whiskey and wine at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea.
Taxpayer watchdogs say while accounting for a small fraction of the State Department's overall budget, some of the liquor expenditures reflect larger concerns about stewardship of federal tax dollars at a time when many recession-weary Americans find themselves struggling to hold onto jobs and pay mortgages.
"It's indicative of the disconnect that bureaucrats have when they spend our money," said David Williams, vice president of policy at the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste.
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