…The Taxpayers for Common Sense database and analysis is the latest in an annual series of reports by the group that CQ Roll Call has analyzed and reported on.
That Congress adds defense dollars for programs that benefit constituents is hardly new. But the scale and expense of the phenomenon, which occurs mostly out of public view at the direction of anonymous lawmakers, is not well known. And what the military is getting for these expenditures has not been demonstrated.
“Some of these increases may be worthy investments, but without justification requirements, how are we to know?” said Gabe Murphy, policy analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, in an interview. “When lawmakers are allowed to anonymously direct funds to companies that contribute to their campaigns or that they hold stock in, abuse is inevitable. The solution is transparency.”
