Label Both Projects As "Pork"
President Obama is not the only one
in Washington opposed to two military aviation projects in the
Senate Defense Authorization bill currently under consideration in
DC ... but he likely has the most clout. That being said, Citizens
Against Government Waste has released its preliminary analysis of
the Senate version of the fiscal year 2010 National Defense
Authorization Act. In this year’s version, there are 429
projects worth $8.6 billion. The group says Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) who has 48 projects worth
$231,250,000 and Senate Armed Services Committee member Roger
Wicker (R-MS) with 20 projects worth $136,090,000, are the two most
wasteful spenders on the Committee.
The group is particularly opposed to two projects that have been
the subject of intense debate and negotiations on the Hill. They
are:
-
$1,814,000,000 by Senate Armed
Services Committee members Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Susan Collins
(R-ME), and Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-CT.) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
for F-22 aircraft and program requirements. As Winslow T. Wheeler,
director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for
Defense Information in Washington and defense industry analyst
Pierre Sprey explain, “Not a single F-22 has flown in the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would be foolish to deploy them
since there is no enemy air force to fight against. To send F-22s
as a bomber – at three times the operating cost of F-16s that
are already bombing over there – would be just another drag
on the war effort.”
- $438,900,000 by Senate Armed Services Committee members Evan
Bayh (D-IN) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA.), and Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-KY) for the F136 Development Alternate Engine Program
directed to Rolls-Royce GE in Indianapolis and General Electric in
Lynn, Massachusetts, Evendale, Ohio, and Madisonville, Kentucky.
Even though the White House has threatened to veto any defense bill
with funding for the engine and the Pentagon has refused to request
funding for it, the three senators still added the money. According
to the Government Accountability Office, funding the unwanted,
unnecessary alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter would
cost at least $7.2 billion.
To make its point, the group launched a
multi-media ad campaign Thursday to express its displeasure with
spending on the F136 engine. The campaign will include print ads in
major newspapers in the nation’s capital; billboards in major
cities around the country, including San Francisco, Las Vegas, and
Chicago; and a HillTube video. CAGW has been vigorously opposing
the program since it first appeared as an earmark in the 2004
Congressional Pig Book. The organization will also launch a new
page on its website which features the ads, reports on the
alternate engine, congressional testimony, and other resources.
“Even though the alternate engine
has been opposed by Presidents Bush and Obama and the Pentagon,
members of Congress have kept it alive with earmarks. President
Obama called for its termination during his May 6 press conference
in which he promised to cut $17 billion in wasteful government
spending, and threatened to veto defense spending bills that
include funding for the engine,” said CAGW President Tom
Schatz.
The first print ads ran Thursday in
Politico and The Washington Post, and continue next week in CQ
Daily, The Hill, and Roll Call. Billboards or equivalent signage
will follow next week, and will be up for a period of three
months.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a
nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to
eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in
government.