(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) expressed indignation over the establishment by the House Armed Services Committee of the $1 billion Mission Force Enhancement Transfer Fund (MFET), a slush fund included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. Members of the committee added 111 legislative provisions that will cost taxpayers $651.7 million; 59 of the add-ons, or 53 percent, appear to be similar to projects included as earmarks in CAGW’s 2010 Congressional Pig Book. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) has claimed that the authorization bill contains no earmarks, and that the MFET was created in order to allow committee members to “move [defense] funding around to more important items.” However, the MFET, which did not exist in the FY 2011 defense authorization bill, appears to be designed to allow members to secure pork for their districts without violating the congressional earmark moratorium.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “In the week leading up to Memorial Day, it was disappointing to discover that members of Congress, rather than considering the needs of the war fighter, were considering their re-election and using their power of the purse to create a new, underhanded way to send pork back home. The MFET threatens to take Congress five years backwards in terms of transparency, and it sets an alarming precedent for future authorizations and appropriations bills.”

CAGW is analyzing the 111 provisions to match as many as possible to both specific earmarks from 2010 and to freshman members of the House. For example, freshman Republican and Armed Services Committee member Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) bragged in a press release that he secured $7 million “to assess the desirability of establishing a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) for nanotechnology. This would allow the SUNY Albany College of Nanoscale Science to compete for this designation, and associated federal support, if it is determined necessary.”

“Luckily, Rep. Jeff Flake’s (R-Ariz.) amendment to eliminate the remaining $348.2 million from the MFET passed by a vote of 269-151 before anyone else could get their hands on it,” added Schatz. “Regardless of what these new slush funds are called, if it looks like an earmark, taxpayers are going to consider it to be an earmark. If Republicans wish to retain their credibility on pork-barrel projects, House leaders must immediately inform every other House committee that schemes such as the MFET will not be tolerated. In addition, there should be complete transparency for any communication, such as letters and phone calls, from members of Congress to the Pentagon that are intended to influence where MFET money should be spent.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.