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JUNE 4, 2008
PENTAGON PORK LARDS SPENDING BILL – by Ryan Alexander
As they
considered the massive emergency Iraq supplemental spending bill this
week, senators cut some of the worst earmarks and bloated spending. But
they ignored billions of weapons pork lining the coffers of big defense
companies.
Some of
their cuts were responsible. The budget scalpel excised an earmark by
Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) that reversed the
administration’s efforts to kill the $1.8 billion extension for the
FutureGen clean-coal power project in Illinois. The earmark would have
continued a cooperative agreement between the Energy Department and a
consortium of private investors to build the plant, even though the
consortium includes a Chinese company that would “ultimately be able to
use the technology developed with taxpayer dollars to build plants in
China,” according to Roll Call.
However, the Senate, despite these programs being controversial,
unwanted by the Pentagon, or having little or no relation to the Iraq
war, approved billions of dollars for new weapons. Last year, the House
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee admitted that they were going to use
the emergency spending bill to stuff in additional items that didn’t fit
in the defense-spending bill.
And
they did. Here are the top three we found in the current supplemental:
1.
C-17 –
The legislation appropriates $3.6 billion for 15 new C-17s that the
Pentagon really doesn’t want and which have little to do with military
operations in Iraq. This funding has more to do with keeping Boeing’s
Long Beach production line open into the summer of 2010, than Iraq. It
is also a gift to Boeing and gives it time to find more international
buyers for the aircraft.
2.
C-130J –
The emergency spending bill provides $1.8 billion for 18 new C-130J
transport planes that, until recently, the Pentagon wanted to eliminate.
While we are aware that one C-130J has been lost in Iraq, the Air Force
argues they need many more because increased stress on the aircraft’s
airframes has caused them to age faster than expected. Sounds like they
are just shopping to fill their weapons wish list.
3.
CV-22 –
The bill provides more than $500 million for the CV-22 Osprey. The money
has been added despite limited use of the aircraft in Iraq. In reality,
the money will help fund the recent Department of Defense plan to
purchase 141 CV-22 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps, and 26 for U.S.
Air Force units with Special Operations Command. The plan involves
buying up to 33 CV-22s per year from 2008 to 2013.
For
several years, the Pentagon has used the emergency spending bills as a
slush fund to pad the overall Defense budget for weapons programs that
don’t need to be replaced or are unrelated to the war. The Senate bill
continues that trend.
Cutting
funding for weapons not necessary to fight the war in Iraq seems like a
great place to start in an effort to get us closer to the president's
initial request. And the $6 billion for the three new weapons programs
mentioned should be the first to go.
--
Ms.
Ryan Alexander is president, Taxpayers for Common Sense -- a
non-partisan federal budget watchdog.
www.taxpayer.net
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