"...“The ship is not reliable,” the Pentagon’s operational test and evaluation director said in a report released in January, only the most recent such judgment it has made.
During 113 days of testing on one ship last year, some of the engines and water jets responsible for propelling the ship forward were out of commission for 45 days.
...But lawmakers on Capitol Hill—provoked or perhaps inspired by a steady stream of contractor donations and unusually determined Navy lobbying—are now on the verge of ordering the Pentagon to build more than Carter wanted.
...According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit spending watchdog based in Washington, D.C., the House bill passed on June 16 contains at least $6.7 billion worth of research and armaments that the Defense Department’s leaders did not request in their February budget proposal. That’s even higher than the $4.6 billion in unwanted expenditures that Congress approved last year, the group says.
The House bill, for example, includes
- $1.5 billion for an unrequested modern “amphibious” warship for dual land and sea missions,
- $400 million for four unrequested C-40 aircraft to carry cargo and commanders, and
- $1 billion worth of unrequested National Guard equipment, a perennial pork-barrel favorite, the Taxpayers for Common Sense report said..."
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