Congress Continues to Waste Taxpayer Dollars on Dubious Programs

Another day, another example of fiscal irresponsibility from Congress. According to the Citizens Against Government Waste, the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee has voted to spend $603 million on a program to develop an alternative engine design for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Air Force considers the alternative engine project useless and has repeatedly tried to get it canceled (and one suspects they know more about such things than members of Congress). Two independent panels have investigated the program and determined that it is "not necessary and not affordable." President Obama himself has singled it out as a wasteful program. Nevertheless, Congress continues to fund the project through earmarks.

Congress Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) has emerged as the champion of this wasteful program, and he was probably the representative who inserted the anonymous earmark tossing a few hundred million dollars to it last year. The phone number for his Washington office is (202) 225-2726, and the fax number is (202) 225-4580. If you don't care for having your hard-earned tax dollars flushed down the toilet, contact the Congressman and give him a piece of your mind.