Dear Representative:

Taxpayers for Common Sense is a national, non-partisan, budget watchdog group. We strive to make sure the budget makes sense and that budget legislation doesn’t add to the current deficit burden. With those goals in mind, we have combed through the list of amendments drafted for consideration during the debate on H.R. 4870, the Department of Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2015. There are several amendments that meet these goals but we would like to call your attention to three amendments in particular:

1. An amendment by Representative Garamendi (D-CA) to cut $15.6 million slated to make the F-35 a dual-use aircraft that can deliver both nuclear and conventional munitions. No less an authority than the former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Norton Schwartz believes the U.S. should abandon plans to make the F-35 nuclear-capable. We have written extensively about our concerns about the massive cost of the F-35 program. Any amendments to rein in those costs are worthy of consideration.

2. An amendment by Representative Speier  (D-CA) to cut $50.2 million for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) countermine mission module in order to reduce the level of concurrency in the development of that module. The Secretary of Defense is recommending curtailing the program at 32 ships, instead of the originally envisioned 50 ships. At Taxpayers we believe the LCS program should be ended after the currently signed contracts are fulfilled (with hull #20.) Cutting $50.2 million to reduce concurrency is smart budgeting.

3. An amendment by Representative Nadler (D-NY) to strike the language that prevents funds in the bill from being used to decommission Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) silos. At Taxpayers we believe our current fiscal environment means all weapon systems should be on the table for potential reductions. But both the House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees have refused to give the Pentagon the flexibility to reduce the number of active silos as they see fit.

We recommend “aye” votes on these amendments.

Very Best Regards,
Wendy J. Jordan
Senior Policy Analyst
Taxpayers for Common Sense
wendy@taxpayer.net