ALEXANDRIA, VA – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) uncovered 186 earmarks worth $7 billion (click here to see the full list) in the Defense Appropriations Bill that was part of H.R. 3547, the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, aka the Omnibus appropriations bill. Among the 186 earmarks is $90 million for the Abrams tank, a classic case of Congress spending money the Pentagon doesn’t want or need. According to a Daily Tribune article, “The Pentagon had proposed halting tank production for five years in 2013 as a cost-saving measure.”
TPA President David Williams issued the following statement:
“This omnibus bill was set in motion when Congress passed the Ryan-Murray budget which increased spending and gutted the sequester. In 2010, Congress pledged to give up earmarks, but this latest spending bill shows that earmarks have come back with a vengeance…
“The picture has become clearer with each ‘bipartisan’ agreement we get from Congress: the sequester is on its way out; increased spending and appropriations is on the way back in. What is even more disappointing is to hear the rationales from elected officials who try to make excuses as to why increased spending is either ‘not really an increase’ or why ‘we’re cutting future growth’ so as to mask the present day spending…
“Members of both parties and chambers are responsible for these earmarks and should be ashamed of themselves. TPA will keep looking through the whole Omnibus for more earmarks and continue to urge the Senate to vote against this pork-filled spending bill and return to regular order.”