Taxpayers funded a $325,000 grant for a robotic squirrel. Isn't there a better way to find nuts in the White House?

While democrats and liberals are whining about cutting a measly 2.5% or less from  the federal budget, let's pause a moment and see what they are spending our money on.

Researchers at SDSU used funds from a $325,000 grant provided by the taxpayer-bankrolled National Science Foundation on the invention of a robotic squirrel used for research. This week, Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn lambasted the project as a waste of money exemplifying what needs to be excised from government spending.

"The problem in Washington is politicians are very specific about what we should fund, but not specific about what we should cut. As a result, we are chasing robotic squirrels and countless other low-priority projects over a fiscal cliff," Coburn said in a statement released Monday.

Coburn included SDSU's robotic squirrel as an example in his annual "Wastebook," which this year highlights what he views as $18 billion in examples of taxpayer dollars spent in "egregious ways" in 2012. Other examples cited by Sen. Coburn include Moroccan pottery classes and efforts to promote caviar consumption and production.

The robotic squirrel research proved that squirrels stave off one of their most deadly predators -- the rattlesnake -- by wagging their tails. Researchers at SDSU recreated ground squirrel and rattlesnake interactions in natural environments.