State Department Spent Around $400K on Booze in 2012

Tab has been rising since 2008

While the federal government was squeezed on one side by sequester and the other by a looming partial shutdown, the State Department was spending heavily on booze for its embassies abroad. 

The Washington Times reports that the department spent about $180,000 on alcohol in September and $400,000 in all of 2012 -- that's three times the $118,000 spent in 2008. 

The booze tab reportedly has risen every year since 2008, but the end of fiscal 2012 saw a particular spike. Part of the reason could be that, toward the end of the year, federal agencies often try to spend what's left in their budgets in order to reduce the risk that Congress will target them for cuts.