House Defense Authorization Earmarks Jump From Last Year

Budget & Tax, National Security, | Analysis

Jun 13, 2008 | 5 min read | Print Article

A bill recently passed by the House increases the number of Defense Authorization earmarks by more than 20% from last year, according to a new analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), a national budget watchdog organization.

The House and Senate Defense Authorization bills are two of the first pieces of legislation to disclose earmarks for Fiscal Year 2009. This is the second year that Congress has disclosed earmarks under the new ethics rules. TCS found the House Defense Authorization bill contains 539 earmarks totaling over $9.9 billion, a substantial increase from last year’s 449 earmarks worth $7.7 billion. This represents a more than 29% increase in the cost of earmarks and a 20% increase in the number of earmarks from the bill the House passed last year. The Senate Defense Authorization bill fared better, with 435 earmarks totaling $5.4 billion. This represents a slight decrease from last year’s Senate bill dollar amount of $5.6 billion, but the number of earmarks increased 126 from last year's 309. These totals include only earmarks disclosed from last year, but do not include undisclosed earmarks – earmarks embedded in the legislation that no lawmaker takes credit for. TCS will be releasing data on undisclosed earmarks in the coming weeks.

The TCS analysis also found that the pay-to-play system of campaign contributions yielding earmarks is alive and kicking. Of the lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee , almost 60% obtained defense earmarks for specific private companies while receiving campaign contributions from those same companies. 95% of lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee received contributions from a company that received earmarks. The FY09 House Defense Authorization bill once again demonstrates a clear connection between defense earmarks and contributions to lawmakers.

Consider these examples from the House Bill:

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) obtained an earmark for $5.4 million for a “Hyperspectral Sensor for Improved Force Protection” from Clean Earth Technologies, Akin’s largest campaign donor with over $14,000 in contributions. Clean Earth Technologies is located in Akin’s home state of Missouri and dedicated a division to the research and development of different imaging technologies. Akin is also the only lawmaker to receive any donation from Clean Earth Technologies during this cycle.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes ' (D-TX) largest campaign contributor over the last reporting period (with at least $18,000 in individual contributions) is Digital Fusion , for which he requested a $4 million earmark for “Operational/Technical Training Validation Testbed.” This earmark request is especially remarkable considering that Digital Fusion may have illegally reimbursed company executives for political contributions made to Reyes, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.
Yet another example of a representative handing out earmarks to his top donor is Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), whose number one donor, ES3 Inc ., gave him $14 thousand in contributions. Rep. Bishop turned around and requested a $2 million earmark for “Science, Engineering and Laboratory Data Integration” for ES3 Inc.’s facility in Utah.

Not to be outdone, the FY09 Senate Defense Authorization bill is rife with campaign donors getting earmarks:

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) requested an astounding 49 earmarks totaling over $198 million. Two earmarks of $5 million each went to General Motors , one of his top contributors with over $29,000 contributed so far this election cycle. The $5 million earmarks would go to the “next generation non-tactical vehicle propulsion technologies” and “Navy/USMC fuel cell non-tactical vehicle initiative,” which benefit Senator Levin’s home state of Michigan.
Perhaps even more striking, Joseph Lieberman (DI-CT) received $189 thousand last election cycle in contributions from Connecticut-based United Technologies (his top contributor) for which he secured a $4 million earmark for a “Fuel Cell development for medium heavy-duty vehicles” and a $1.5 million earmark for “Helicopter Vulnerability Reduction Technologies.”
Continuing this trend, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) requested a $3.5 million earmark for DRS Technologies to build “Short Range electro-optic sensors” in Florida. This request comes after DRS Technologies became Nelson’s top campaign donor with contributions totaling $62,800 over the last year and the start of this election cycle.