Independent Analysis Indicates Flight Training, Other Operations May Be Jeopardized

A recent analysis conducted by the Center for Defense Information, an independent research organization in Washington, DC, says as much as $2.6 billion has been shifted by lawmakers out of the U.S. Military Operation and Maintenance (O&M)budget for earmark projects.

The analysis shows some 778 projects, which include a WWII Museum in New Orleans and establishment of an institute named for the late Senator Edward Kennedy, are included in the defense appropriations bill under consideration in the Senate.

The Washington Times reports that Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer who worked on defense funding and oversight for both Republicans and Democrats and now a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information, said "in 30 years on Capitol Hill, I never saw Congress mangle the defense budget as badly as this year,"

Wheeler said most of the money Senators earmarked for projects in their home states came from the O&M accounts. "These are the accounts that pay for troop training, repairs, spares and supplies for vehicles, weapons, ships and planes, food and fuel," Wheeler told the Washington Times.

The earmarks are not the only thing in the bill not requested by the Pentagon. Also included is $2.5 billion for 10 C-17 aircraft that the Pentagon has said it does not need.

Wheeler said Congress has shifted money from O&M accounts to pay for earmark projects every year since 2002. "Air Force and Navy combat pilots training to deploy are getting about half of the flying hours they got at the end of the Vietnam War," he wrote in his analysis.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) said the Navy has had to curtail at-sea flight training because of cuts to the O&M budgets.

The Times reports that, during debate on the bill, Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) (pictured, above) denied the earmarks were affecting readiness and training. "The operation and maintenance title is fully funded, Inouye said. "There is no shortage. ... The committee is deeply concerned that the critical operational needs of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are met with the finest equipment available."

FMI:  http://appropriations.senate.gov/