The House last week approved about $8 billion in earmarks as part of the 2008 defense authorization bill, with the wealth shared by both Democrats and Republicans.
Given their majority, however, Democrats claimed close to 60 percent of the bill’s earmarks.
Because of new House rules, for the first time the earmarks have been disclosed as part of the bill’s report. The current list of earmarks includes the budget account, the project description, the intended recipient and beneficiary as well as the name of the requesting member. This year, the House approved a $504 billion defense authorization bill.
Among the requesters, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has one earmark in the bill, for $10 million for Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, as part of the military construction portion of the defense budget.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) had five projects approved as part of the defense authorization bill, totaling almost $20 million. Among Hoyer’s beneficiaries are the Honeywell Corp in La Plata, Md., for the so-called Blossom Point Satellite Facility; the Naval Air Warfare Center Air Craft Division at Patuxent River, Md., for a communications upgrade on the DDG-ship; the Navy’s Special Warfare Center at Indian Head, Md., for high-energy conventional energetics; and Virginia-based Infosystems Technology Inc., which builds the Rubix multi-level security database.
Perhaps the largest congressional earmark goes to Boeing’s C-17s — $2.4 billion. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) was the only member if the California delegation identified as a requester for the earmarks, which would benefit directly Boeing’s Long Beach, Calif., facility.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who has a Boeing plant in his St. Louis district, and Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) were among the requesters. But Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), who has Boeing in his backyard, made the request on behalf of Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Meanwhile, Rep. Kay Granger’s (R-Texas) request for more C-17s directly benefits Vought Aircraft Industries in Dallas.
Among the largest earmarks are $1.7 billion for an additional LPD-17 expeditionary warfare ship that directly benefits Northrop Grumman; $588 million for advance procurement on a Virginia-class submarine that benefits both Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia and Electric Boat in Groton, Conn.; and $294 million for additional Stryker vehicles built by General Dynamics.
The LPD-17 is being built in Louisiana and the requesters for the program are listed as Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), William Jefferson (D-La.), Bobby Jindal (R-La.) and Charlie Melancon (D-La.).
Several members were instrumental in securing $18 million in research and development money for the medical free electron laser program at Wright Patterson’s office of scientific research and $14 million for the Air Force’s research laboratory in the same location to look into a metal-affordability initiative.
Several earmarks are for chapels on military bases, including one at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., requested by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.). The request is for $10 million. Apart from the funding request for the chapel, Skelton has only one other request: $25 million for training-based collaborative research also at the Fort Leonard Wood Institute.
Two million dollars also went to the Veterans of the Cold War for “Cold War Metal,” although it is unclear what Cold War Metal represents. The earmark, requested by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), is listed as part of the operations and maintenance section of the budget.
One of Rep. Duncan Hunter’s (R-Calif.) favorite requests, the Sea-Fighter project (also known as X-Craft), built by L3 Communications Titan Group, made it into the bill. Hunter, the committee’s ranking member, requested $22 million for the project. Last year, Hunter added $25.7 million despite the Navy’s reluctance to spend money on the project, according to a Congress Daily report.
Hunter, who is running for president, secured $2 million for a skin test antigen to be research and developed by Allermed Laboratories Inc. of San Diego; $1 million for oxygen-diffusion dressings made by Oxyband Technologies Inc. of San Diego; and $8 million out of the research and development pot for a tactical e-field Buoy development program that would benefit Information Systems Laboratories, also of San Diego.
As is customary for defense bills, most projects are earmarked out of the research and development section of the defense budget.
Although the new transparency of the earmark process could be considered a victory for lawmakers, few members touted the achievements in press releases. Akin applauded the addition of 10 C-17s to the defense authorization bill, as did Calvert. Few others crowed publicly about their earmarks. Among them, Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), a panel subcommittee chairman, released a statement about the House authorizing $72 million in funding he recommended for military research and testing in his state. Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.) boasted about $6.6 million to complete construction on the Northeast Air Defense Sector.
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