According to a new Congressional report obtained by CBS News:

In 2006 alone, 20,959 USDA employees attended 6,719 conferences around the world.

That includes 94 in Las Vegas, costing $254,755

As well as 59 in Orlando, totaling $282,656.

And 28 in Hawaii - which cost almost $2,000 per person They went to the Virgin Islands to study preventing pollution in the Caribbean. And one lucky USDA employee went halfway around the world to attend a conference in Australia at the Surfers Paradise Resort. The subject matter: Mississippi crayfish. They could’ve been studied closer to home … but the waves aren’t as good in the bayou. From 2000 to 2006, USDA spent an astonishing $90 million tax dollars on conferences.