[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FY2001 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL

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                         HON. JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 2000

  Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, last night the House of Representatives 
passed the Fiscal Year 2001 Defense Appropriations Bill. I voted in 
favor of that legislation because I largely support the priorities 
reflected in the bill by Chairman Lewis, Ranking Member Murtha and the 
Defense Appropriations subcommittee.
  Today, the Budget Committee is conducting a hearing on my 
legislation, H.R. 3221, the Corporate Welfare Commission Act. Under the 
bill, a Commission would be created to root out unnecessary and 
wasteful subsidies, and report their recommendations to the House and 
Senate. Their recommendations would receive expedited floor 
consideration to ensure that members of Congress were put on record on 
these wasteful programs.
  One program which is often mentioned as one of the most egregious 
examples of wasteful spending, and which was mentioned today by the 
witnesses, is the subsidy the government gives to encourage defense 
mergers. The program was created in 1993 and was intended to save 
taxpayers billions of dollars by allowing defense contractors to charge 
the costs of mergers to government contracts. A recent study by the 
Department of Defense reflects significant cost savings for the 
government under this program but an independent study by the General 
Accounting Office could not verify DoD's claims. According to the GAO 
study, the government spent approximately $850 million on just the 
seven largest defense contractor mergers.
  I think this program deserves closer scrutiny. While I don't question 
the nature of these mergers which have to be approved by the Department 
of Defense; I do question the policy of having the U.S. taxpayers pay 
at least a portion of the cost for such mergers. I urge the eventual 
conferees on the Department of Defense Authorization and Appropriations 
bills to consider a change in this policy.

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