Shallow analysis or daunted by the amount of waste our
government produces.I am only pointing out that the cost
of doing business with our out of control politicians has got to end....
The common denominator in all these actions is the late Col John Boyd's rule of program mis-management: "don't interrupt the money flow, add to it."
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III. DEFENSE
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 28, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reaffirmed his commitment to the fiscal and physical defense of the country. He said, "We have an obligation to taxpayers to spend their money wisely. We need to ask ourselves: how should we be spending taxpayer dollars? We are doing two things: First, we are not treating the taxpayers' dollars with respect - and by not doing so, we risk losing their support, and Second, we are depriving the men and women of our Armed Forces of the training, equipment and facilities they need to accomplish their missions. They deserve better. We need to invest that money wisely." CAGW couldn't agree more, especially after 9/11 and during a war with Iraq. Unfortunately, appropriators aren't listening to Secretary Rumsfeld. Total pork increased 25 percent over fiscal 2002 from $8.8 billion to $11 billion. Projects also increased 22 percent from 1,404 to 1,711.
$226,275,000 for projects in the state of then-Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye
(D-Hawaii), including: $46,800,000 for the Pacific Missile Range Facility; $19,700,000 for the Hawaii Federal Health Care Network; $6,375,000 for automated clinical practices guidelines; $5,950,000 for Project Albert; $4,300,000 for the Center of Excellence for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (the Center for Mediocrity received no funding); $3,400,000 each for the Navy's Endeavor program and strategic materials; $2,550,000 for the Pacific Rim Corrosion Project; and $1,000,000 for brown tree snakes.
$103,600,000 added for projects in the state of Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee member Richard Durbin (R-Ill.), House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and House appropriators Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) and Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), including: $28,000,000 for the LITENING AT precision attack targeting system; $5,000,000 for Life Science Education and Research; $3,000,000 for dental research; and $1,000,000 for the Charles Melvin Price Support Center.
$97,008,000 for projects in the state of then-Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), including: $8,500,000 each for utilidors at Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright; $7,694,000 for the Alaska Wide Mobile Radio Program; $7,600,000 for the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP); $4,300,000 for hybrid electric vehicle testing; and $1,275,000 for the Tanana River Bridge Study. Initially designed to capture energy from the aurora borealis (northern lights), HAARP is now being configured to heat up the ionosphere to improve military communications. Instead, HAARP is heating up the ire of many taxpayers. Web surfers can check out <www.haarp.alaska.edu> to see how their tax dollars are being spent. Since 1995, CAGW has identified $90.4 million appropriated for HAARP.
$23,100,000 added by the House for projects in the district of then-House Defense Appropriations subcommittee member Joe Skeen (R-N.M.): $21,000,000 for the Magdalena Ridge Observatory and $2,100,000 for the Holloman Air Force Base high speed test track.
$10,000,000 for a large millimeter wave telescope in the district of House appropriator John Olver (D-Mass.). According to its website <<http://www.lmtgtm.org>>: "The Large Millimeter Telescope Project is the joint effort of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica, y Electrónica (INAOE) in Mexico. The LMT is a 50m diameter millimeter-wave telescope designed for principal operation at wavelengths between 1mm and 4mm. The telescope is being built atop Sierra Negra, a volcanic peak in the state of Puebla, Mexico. Site construction and fabrication of most of the major antenna parts is underway, with telescope construction expected to be complete in 2004."
$5,300,000 for the National Automotive Center (NAC) in the state of House appropriators Joseph Knollenberg (R-Mich.) and Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.). One of the projects currently underway by NAC is the smart truck initiative.
$3,000,000 added by the House for Tyndall Air Force Base in the district of House appropriator F. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.).
$3,000,000 added in conference for the Tanker Lease Pilot Program. This deal, to lease 100 Boeing 767 fuel tankers, was tucked away in the fiscal 2002 Defense Appropriations Bill. The General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated the cost of the six-year lease of the 100 tankers to be $26 to $30 billion. As an alternative to the lease, GAO estimated the cost to upgrade, modernize, and repair corrosion to the current fleet of KC-135Es to be approximately $3.2 billion, a savings of more than $23 billion.
$1,000,000 added by the Senate for the Math Teacher Leadership Program in the state of Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee member Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
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