A new T.V. report reveals that Pentagon plans to buy expensive weapons will likely result in higher defense spending in future years and make it more difficult to balance the budget. Over the next six years the Pentagon will call for a multi-billion dollar procurement, but will not be billed until after the year 2003, beyond the time frame of the current balanced budget plan.

The work is based on the analysis of famous Pentagon analysts Franklin (Chuck) Spinney and Ernie Fitzgerald, both of whom appear in the video. Produced by Dan Sagalyn, the report is part of the weekly television series America’s Defense Monitor, which is produced by the Center for Defense Information (CDI).

Taxpayers for Common $ense is cosponsoring CDI’s screening of the program:

Tuesday, April 30
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Rayburn House Office Building
Room B369

If you cannot make the screening, the program will be broadcast throughout the country on local Public Broadcasting Service and cable stations. In Washington, D.C. the program can be seen at 12:30 p.m. on May 5 on Howard University’s WHMM (Channel 32).

For more information about the report, or to reserve your place at the screening, contact CDI at (202) 862-0700 or dsagalyn@cdi.org.

Congress deletes costly student loan riders and passes 1996 spending bill.

On April 24 Congress finally agreed to drop expensive “special-interest” provisions on student loans on the FY 1996 omnibus appropriations bill. The student loan industry had lobbied intensively for these riders, which, if enacted, would have undermined the innovative Direct Student Loan program. Direct Lending is the new program that has resulted in substantial federal cost savings and has been under attack by the loan industry.

Grazing giveaway bill lives on

On April 25 the House Resources Committee reported out legislation designed to continue the government’s policy of charging below-market rates to graze livestock on federal lands. The full House will now consider this legislation.

For lawmakers-turned-lawbreakers it’s good to be on a government pension. Roll Call newspaper reported on May 2 that ex-Representative Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), headed for prison after pleading guilty to two counts of corruption, will continue to receive his Congressional pension benefits. “Rosty” will pull in over $98,000 in payments in 1996.