. 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.
There were 778 slices of pork (earmarks) in the troop funding bill.
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.
Ted Kennedy voted against funding our troops while he was alive. After he is gone $20 million taken from troop funding goes to a memorial for the Kennedy "Admiral of Chappaquiddick."
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.
Senate appropriators insisted that the cuts do not shortchange the troops.
Yea, right! Tell that to the troops in Afghanistan where they are using weapons that ‘fail them’ as reported at the second link below.
Link here and here.
A picture of my cave
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