THE PIG BOOK | TaxConnections

10 May 2024

Citizens Against Government Waste: The Prime Cut Series (#6)

Eliminate Funding for the M1A2SEP Abrams Tank Upgrade Program
1-Year Savings: $699.2 million
5-Year Savings: $3.5 billion

Over the objections of senior DOD officials, members of Congress have for many years provided funding for the M1 upgrade program. In FY 2023, legislators added two earmarks costing $699.2 million for the Abrams, including $602 million to upgrade 46 tanks.

Although the tank plant is in Lima, Ohio, its suppliers are spread across the country, which helps to explain the widespread support. Past versions of the DOD bills, including in FYs 2016 and 2017, hinted at a parochial incentive for the program’s continuance: industrial base support. There’s nothing like a jobs program disguised as a national security priority.

The continued funding for the program makes it worth revisiting why the Pentagon has long objected to finite resources being wasted on an unwanted project. In testimony before the HASC on February 17, 2012, then-Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno told Congress that the U.S. possesses more than enough tanks to meet the country’s needs, stating “our tank fleet is in good shape.

“On September 6, 2023, the DOD announced that it intends to move on from the M1A2SEP. Adapting in part from lessons learned in the fighting in Ukraine, the Pentagon intends to redistribute funding once intended for the M1A2SEP program to develop the M1E3. This new version of the Abrams will integrate technologies designed to increase survivability and maneuverability on the battlefield and will likely be fielded in the 2040s and onward.

Written by TaxConnections Admin | Posted in Citizens Of Government Waste • THE PIG BOOK

18 Apr 2024

Citizens Against Government Waste: The Prime Cut Series (#5)

Eliminate Earmarks For The F-35 JSF Program
1-Year Savings: $1.5 billion
5-Year Savings: $7.5 billion

The many problems of the JSF make it impossible to justify Congress adding funding beyond that requested by the DOD. Total acquisition costs of the program now exceed $428 billion, 84 percent greater than the initial estimate of $233 billion, with projected lifetime operations and maintenance costs of $1.727 trillion.

In February 2014, then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and now Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall referred to the purchase of the F-35 as “acquisition malpractice.” On April 26, 2016, the late John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the JSF program “both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule, and performance.”

The JSF has been dragged down by an array of persistent issues, many of which were highlighted in the FY 2019 DOD Operational Test and Evaluation Annual Report, which revealed 873 unresolved deficiencies including 13 Category 1 items, involving the most serious flaws that could endanger crew and aircraft. While this was an overall reduction from the 917 unresolved deficiencies and 15 Category 1 items found in September 2018, the report stated that “although the program is working to fix deficiencies, new discoveries are still being made, resulting in only a minor decrease in the overall number of deficiencies.”

Many of the problems with the F-35 program can be traced to the decision to develop and procure the aircraft simultaneously. Whenever problems have been identified, contractors needed to go back and make changes to planes that were already assembled, adding to overall costs. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on July 24, 2015, then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James stated, “The biggest lesson I have learned from the F-35 is never again should we be flying an aircraft while we’re building it.”

Written by TaxConnections Admin | Posted in Citizens Against Waste • THE PIG BOOK

11 Apr 2024

Citizens Against Government Waste: The Prime Cut Series (#4)

Eliminate Federal Subsidies for Amtrak
1-Year Savings: $2.5 billion
5-Year Savings: $12.3 billion

Since Amtrak was created in 1971, it has cost taxpayers more than $40 billion. The railroad was supposed to earn a profit but has continuously failed to do so. In some cases, it is less expensive to use other forms of transportation. A 2009 study found that taxpayers paid $32 in subsidies per Amtrak passenger. By booking a month or more in advance, it is possible to buy a round-trip plane ticket from New Orleans to Los Angeles for less than the $437.82 that Amtrak loses per passenger on a one-way trip between those same locations.

A January 2018 Ernst and Young audit found that “the Company has a history of operating losses and is dependent upon substantial Federal Government subsidies to sustain its operations and maintain its underlying infrastructure.” An August 2012 New York Times article reported that Amtrak had lost $834 million on food service alone since 2002, largely due to employee theft.

Unfortunately, the waste and abuse does not end with food sales. The Amtrak Office of Inspector General (IG) has issued several reports detailing inadequate supervision, including a September 2012 report that investigated two employees who received fraudulent pay for hours they never worked. One employee was paid $5,600 in regular and overtime pay “when he was actually off Amtrak property officiating at high school sporting events.” Another employee was observed for 84 days, and it was discovered that “$16,500 of the $27,000, or 61 percent of the overtime wages he was paid
were fraudulent.” The IG concluded that, since it is likely that this employee had a history of fraudulent overtime pay, the amount of fraudulent pay “would be approximately $143,300 of the $234,928 that he was paid.”

Amtrak has also failed to control costs on key expansion projects. The overhaul of Union Station in Washington, D.C., “faces significant risks of coming in over budget and behind schedule,” according to an August 1, 2018 IG report. Projects in Virginia were cited for poor staff communications and project delays.

Written by TaxConnections Admin | Posted in THE PIG BOOK