Now that the first drafts of the defense spending bills are rolling in, the tea leaves are beginning to curl into place to reveal which weapons systems will get a boost from Congress. One system that looks to gain yet another life is the C-17 Globemaster, the Air Force carrier used to move troops and cargo. Manufacturer Boeing has completed its government order and is now spending millions of its own dollars to keep the line open. The White House has added money to previous budgets for closing the line down only to have it removed by the Air Force, and lawmakers have kept it warm by inserting requests for planes in defense appropriations bills.

The White House left the C-17’s fate to Congress this year by refusing to include money for shutting down the line in its fiscal year 2009 budget request. Congress, of course, is more than happy to help: In its markup of the FY 2009 defense authorization bill, which serves as the planning document for defense appropriations, the House Armed Services Committee’s Air and Land Forces Subcommittee added $3.9 billion for 15 additional C-17s. However, the Senate Armed Services Committee refrained from adding any new C-17s in its markup. Why the enthusiasm for C-17s in the House? Could it be that the Boeing plant in subcommittee member Todd Akin’s (R-MO) district employs about 2,000 workers on the C-17 line? Despite his calls for fiscal prudence, subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) probably didn’t protest too much since the eight C-17s based at Hickham Air Force base in his district are awaiting the completion of a $28 million landing strip.

And now for some humorous self promotion: the Defense Contract Audit Agency, which scrutinizes contracts and provides procurement advice for the defense department, recently released a memo reminding auditors to look for contractor efforts to obtain earmarks. Contractors are prohibited by the Federal Acquisition Regulation from spending federal money to lobby for Congressional handouts. As a helpful resource for identifying these earmarks, DCAA refers auditors to…the TCS database! We’re proud to serve our government, particularly those agencies that keep watch over its spending. We’ll even forgive their gentle scrambling of our acronym.