You’d think in a time of two wars and record deficits that our U.S. Congress would clamp down on wasteful spending.  Think again.  Apparently the only thing our Congress can do consistently is waste our money.

CNN reveals that funds directed to help U.S. troops on the battlefield are instead being spent on senators’ pet projects back home.  In the most recent defense spending bill, both Republican and Democratic senators secured 59 earmarks that divert a total of $172 million from our troops.

For example, Utah’s Republican Senator Robert Bennett secured a $5 million earmark for a local Utah company to produce a memento video scrapbook for troops returning from battle.  The $5 million comes from the fund that’s supposed to pay for the troops’ basic needs such as food, fuel and ammunition.

“Every dollar that we are forced to spend on things which we do not need requires us to take money from things which we do need,” said a Pentagon spokesman.  “And the people who lose in that tradeoff are our troops and the taxpayers.”

When CNN asked Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe whether the Pentagon specifically requested her $20 million earmark for a local Maine company to repair Humvees, she replied, “I don’t know.  But it’s not only the Pentagon’s decision.  There are several branches of government.”

That’s right, there’s a lot of pigs to feed in Washington.

White House officials say that President Obama will sign the $410 billion omnibus spending bill to keep key government agencies funded in 2009.  The bill contains nearly 9,000 earmarks totaling tens of billions of dollars.  Congressional members use earmarks to direct funding to unrelated pet projects.

During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to end wasteful spending, with a focus on reducing or eliminating earmarks altogether.  Many lawmakers including some key Democrats have urged Obama to veto the bill to prove he’s serious about cutting pork.

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