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U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects

Posted: Oct 16, 2009

By Shaun Waterman THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

Among the 778 such projects, known as earmarks, packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat.

While earmarks are hardly new in Washington, "in 30 years on Capitol Hill, I never saw Congress mangle the defense budget as badly as this year," said Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer who worked on defense funding and oversight for both Republicans and Democrats. He is now a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information, an independent research organization.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, called the transfer of funds from Pentagon operations and maintenance "a disgrace."

"The Senate is putting favorable headlines back home above our men and women fighting on the front lines," he said in a statement.

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Google LegiStorm. It has a lot of info on... - MTCO

[ In Reply To ..]
government spending, earmarks, where the pork goes, et cetera. They are a watchdog group. I found the site quite interesting and very informative.

You need to put this in context - Me

[ In Reply To ..]
First of all what this right wing rag doesn't tell you is how tiny of a fraction this is of the true military budget, and that it does not translate to reducing the effectiveness of the effort there.

I have a feeling you might not follow this so I'm not spending too much time with this - you can indicate if you are open to more information.

Your subject line makes it sound like these senators took money out of the the pockets of soldiers to fund their own personal 'pet projects' I don't deny both parties are guilty of egregious pork, but you really need to do more research on such a slanted article before you get hysterical.

A quick analogy is this: If you have a weekly food budget of $200, it's like 'diverting' $10 of that for a different need.

If we stopped the quid pro quo, most Americans would see that many of the projects are actually beneficial right here on OUR LAND.

Isn't it time we spent a few more dollars HERE on our country instead of breaking down and rebuilding OTHER countries first?

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