As we noted earlier, a 7100+ page bill is going to have all manner of weird items tucked into the dark corners. But your intrepid watchdogs at TCS are sniffing them out. In the Pentagon funding division of the Omnibus, we found this gem:

“CHIMPANZEES ON AIR FORCE PROPERTY

“The Secretary of the Air Force is encouraged to work with the Director of the National Institutes of Health to seek alternative arrangements for the housing and care of chimpanzees currently residing on Air Force property.”

The first thing our budget-minded thoughts went to was “Changes in Mandatory Program Spending” (ChIMPS). But, nope. This refers to living, breathing primates. We’re big animal lovers here (watchdogs, remember?) and we certainly hope the Air Force chimpanzees are well taken care of during this transition to alternative housing. But we can’t help thinking there may be more to this story. NIH evidently has been housing some chimps at an Air Force base. That’s…interesting…right there. Where will the chimps go? Who will be paying for the move? So many questions.