(MA) Democrats race clock, try to save (MICC) programs

[unhappycamper]

Democrats race clock, try to save programs
By Matt Viser
Globe Staff / December 18, 2010

WASHINGTON — Two large defense contracts that would produce up to 900 jobs in Lynn and Pittsfield are in jeopardy after the Senate eliminated a major spending bill loaded with earmarks this week, sending Massachusetts’ congressional delegation scrambling to get the funding added to another budget bill before the end of their lame-duck session, which is expected to come next week.

The programs — a backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and 10 new Navy coastal combat ships — were casualties of the ideological war over the special spending appropriations, known as earmarks, inserted by members of Congress into budgets. The Senate’s decision to kill the major appropriation bill Thursday was the result of pressure from some Republicans, who considered the measure and its earmarks wasteful, even those proposed by GOP senators.

In all, the $1.1 trillion bill had 6,706 earmarks worth $8.3 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The move to shelve it showed the political impact of the recent midterm election, in which candidates affiliated with the Tea Party movement were among those railing against earmarks and deficits.

It also shows how the economic pain of eliminating earmarks will be felt in communities that had counted on jobs created by the spending.

The backup jet engine, which would be built by General Electric and would result in 400 jobs in Lynn, has been criticized by taxpayer watchdogs for several years as a waste of defense dollars. The Pentagon has said it needs only one engine for the new fighter.

The combat ships would be built by a consortium including General Dynamics, which said it would add 500 jobs to an electronics plant in Pittsfield if the project is approved. The Pentagon has backed the move to increase the order of new ships from 10 to 20.



unhappycamper comment: Those 20 new ships will cost at least $10 billion dollars (Read up on the LCS history in my Journal.) . Let's see.... $10 billion dollars for 900 jobs = $111,111 per job.

A backup engine for a $243-million-dollar-second-place runner up in the stealth jet contest seems to be over the top. They can't even get the friccking thing through its testing schedule.