Senators call on Pentagon to stop wasting money on a missile defense system

By Ramsey Cox - 10/05/12 05:07 PM ET

A group of bipartisan senators told the Department of Defense this week to eliminate Pentagon waste by pulling funding for a missile defense system.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and David Vitter (R-La.) sent Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta a letter Thursday calling for an end to the Medium Air Extended Defense System (MEADS), which has been plagued by scheduling delays and cost overruns.

"With a national debt surpassing $16 trillion, we can no longer afford to waste taxpayer money developing weapons programs the warfighter will never use,” the senators wrote in a letter made public Friday. “In March 2010 it was widely reported the Army found ‘the system will not meet U.S. requirements or address the current and emerging threat without extensive and costly modifications.’ The program has been plagued with cost overruns of nearly $2 billion and is 10 years behind schedule.”

Both the House and Senate defense appropriation bills removed funding for MEADS, but because budget resolutions have been the only way of funding the government recently, the money remains in the Pentagon’s budget. The senators said they believe the DOD should not spend any money on the program until the relevant budget bills are completed.

“With budget constraints and well-documented development problems with MEADS these modifications are not a feasible option," the letter stated. “It is critical at this moment in our nation’s history that the Department support Congress’ continued efforts to provide guidance through the legislative process for a strong and fiscally responsible national security.”

The senators’ letter comes as sequestration cuts loom, which would cut defense spending by nearly $500 billion. The senators were suggesting that MEADS could be one of those necessary cuts, despite the $401 million request for MEADS in President Obama’s budget for fiscal 2013.