Wasteful Pentagon Program Supported By Nearly Half of House Democrats
When you buy a car, do you buy a second engine along with it, to keep in your garage, just in case your first engine starts to fail? That’s what the Pentagon has done for a long time in a routine of waste that’s rationalized as a method to ensure national security, but really does more for the financial security of corporate military contractors than anything else.
In one example of this wasteful practice many members of Congress have pushed through funding for a second engine for the F-35 attack aircraft, made by a different set of companies than the manufacturers of the plane’s first engine. What’s the problem with spreading out the work for a big airplane’s two engines between different companies? The F-35 is a single-engine airplane, and the first engine appears to be working just fine.
The Obama White House and the Pentagon have repeatedly begged Congress to stop funding the second F-35 engine. Military leaders say that the program fails to significantly contribute to national security.
Attempting to stop this waste, Chellie Pingree introduced an amendment to the military appropriations bill this week. Her bill would have eliminated funding for the second engine for the F-35, saving billions of dollars.
Pingree’s amendment was rejected by the House of Representatives. Given the favor many members of Congress have to military pork barrel, that’s not surprising. What is worthy of note is that the support for the F-35′s unneeded, unwanted extra engine was bipartisan. Most Republicans supported the wasteful program, but almost half of Democrats voted to continue the military program that the military itself says isn’t needed.
136 Democrats voted to cut funding for the F-35′s superfluous second engine. 115 Democrats voted to keep the funding in place. 57 Republicans voted to eliminate the waste. 116 Republicans voted to preserve the unnecessary spending.
[...] military itself says that it doesn’t want or need the projects. Last week, for example, about two-thirds of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for a program to develop a secon…. Rolls-Royce and General Electric would profit from the busywork spending, so most of the GOP in [...]
[...] to Congress. So long as the Pentagon cuts its most outrageous pork barrel spending – such as money just approved for a second engine for the F-35, a single engine airplane – this requirement shouldn’t be a problem. The U.S. military budget is so filled with [...]