By Emelie Rutherford
House defense appropriators have requested more than $1.2 billion in Pentagon-related earmarks, with most of that targeted aid sought by a Georgia Democrat eyeing aircraft- related funds for companies including United Technologies [UTX].
House members had an April 3 deadline for submitting earmark requests for priority consideration to the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) for the fiscal year 2010 defense budget. Under new rules, they were required to post those requests for specified appropriations on their congressional Web sites as well.
On the powerful House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) sought more than $200 million worth of defense earmarks, more than any of the other 16 subcommittee members revealed, according to a Defense Daily analysis of their online disclosures.
Meanwhile, subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.), who helps steer the award of defense earmarks, disclosed he requested 21 of them, worth a combined $78.3 million, for Pennsylvania defense shops and universities. Murtha’s proposed earmarks include $8.1 million for titanium, to be used by the Department of Defense’s industrial base, from Gautier Steel in his hometown of Johnstown, Pa., and $8 million for Smithfield, Pa.-based Argon ST to upgrade naval torpedo defense capabilities.
Murtha defends the much-maligned earmarking process in a statement, saying that Congress is entrusted with the power of the purse and is the branch of government closest to the American people.
“Earmarks do not increase the federal budget, they direct funds within the budget for certain community projects or programs,” Murtha states. “If these funds are not directed by members of Congress, decisions would be left for Washington bureaucrats in various federal agencies to decide what is best for our local communities. “
Still, the lion’s share of the military earmark requests disclosed by HAC-D members, in terms of dollar value, came from Bishop.
Bishop sought 34 defense earmarks totaling $281.96 million, his list of earmark requests shows. His largest dollar-amount requests are: $81 million for United Technologies in Columbus, Ga., to replace E-8C Joint STARS aircraft engines; $70 million to buy a C-37B aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace, which is owned by General Dynamics [GD], in Savannah, Ga.; and $53 million for United Technologies to upgrade F-16 jet engines.
In addition to Bishop, three other HAC-D members disclosed requesting more than $100 million in defense earmarks: Reps. James Moran (D-Va.), Steven Rothman (D-N.J.), and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).
Moran, the No. 4 Democrat on the panel, requested 45 defense earmarks valued at $133.57 million, according to his Web site. His largest requests by far are for two federally funded research and development centers in Virginia–the RAND Project Air Force, for which he wants $32.32 million, and the RAND Arroyo Center, for which he is seeking $20.75 million.
Most of Moran’s military earmark requests are for defense firms and organizations in his defense-industry-rich district in northern Virginia. His desired Pentagon-related earmarks include $3 million for vascular facial fingerprinting technology from BriarTek in Alexandria, Va., and $2 million for electronic-warfare tools from General Dynamics [GD] in Fairfax, Va.
Rothman cites 23 defense-related earmark requests totaling $125.39 million on his Web site. His list includes a $15 million earmark for Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.-based InSitech, Inc., to be used on a program that helps small businesses compete for defense contracts. Rothman also wants $10 million for an electronic-warfare system from Honeywell Electronic Protection Products [HON] in Morristown, N.J.
Kaptur lists on her Web site 29 desired defense earmarks worth $104 million, including $5.2 million for lightweight metal alloy foam for Army armor, which would go to Imaging Systems Technology Inc. in Toledo, Ohio.
The HAC-D’s No. 3 Democrat, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), notably only disclosed online one obvious defense-related earmark request, for $3 million for the University of Notre Dame to research batteries for military vehicles.
Of the 16 HAC-D members, Ranking Republican C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and members Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) and Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) did not publish on their Web sites lists of only the defense earmarks they requested from the HAC. Instead, Young, Kilpatrick, and Kingston posted lengthy lists of all the military earmarks citizens asked them to submit. Embedded within those lists, but not identified, are those earmarks they chose to actually request, their spokesmen said.
Young disclosed on his Web site 35 defense-related earmarks totaling $115.7 million that people requested he submit. Kingston lists 36 defense earmarks totaling $277.9 million that citizens sought from him.
Kilpatrick, a new HAC-D member this congressional session, cites more than $2.14 billion worth of defense-related earmark requests she received, most of which are from General Dynamics Land Systems in Sterling Heights, Mich.
The company’s desired earmarks include $856 million in research funds for the Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) program’s manned ground vehicles–an aspect of the program Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to cancel–along with $148 million in unspecified FCS funds, $847.8 million for Stryker Gun Vehicles, $92 million for Stryker vehicle modernization, $103 million for Abrams tank improvements, and $79.3 million for the future Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
The combined value of the desired defense earmarks of the 13 HAC-D members who disclosed their requests to the HAC–a group that does not include Young, Kilpatrick, and Kingston–is $1.2 billion.