An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Senate to Troops: Screw You
I cannot even begin to tell you how much this pisses me off.
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.
Mr. Wheeler said that senators took most of the cash for the projects from the “operations and maintenance” or O&M accounts.
“These are the accounts that pay for troop training, repairs, spares and supplies for vehicles, weapons, ships and planes, food and fuel,” Mr. Wheeler said.
Excuse me??? Are they serious?? Soooo…lemme get this straight. They are taking funds away from the men and women who are proudly serving this great country, and using them for pet projects so they can get headlines and pat themselves on the back? Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
I simply don’t understand what is happening to this country. We have elected officials who are so far in their own little world, they are putting our troops at risk. This is not the country I grew up in, nor is it the country I want my child to grow up in. 2010 cannot come soon enough for me…we need to get these POS OUT!!!
In their own little world? Pfft! They are so busy crawling up each others asses, wiggling their ears, the real world doesn’t even come into the picture.
It never ceases to amaze me how COMPLETELY out of touch they are. Aren’t they supposed to represent we the people? Good grief – it’s all so f*cked up.
They stopped representing us a LONG time ago, but at least they use to pretend they did. Now, they aren’t even doing that.