Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) April Porkers of the Month for threatening to reverse a $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract award to Northrop Grumman.  The losing bidder, the Boeing Company, has large facilities in their states.

Rep. Dicks said, “We’re going to try to eliminate the funding,” according to The Wall Street Journal, and called the decision “one of the worst … in modern history.”  The Chicago Tribune reported that Rep. Tiahrt said, “I don’t think the current contract can go forward.”  These members of Congress and others promoting parochial interests are meddling with the defense procurement process to the detriment of taxpayers across the country.

Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics John Young told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on April 18 that it is “dangerous to set aside valid source selections on a political basis.  Do we have the California delegation kill a program because the Georgia delegation won?  I don't know where this stops.  If I am going to demand that certain companies or proposals must win regardless of what they cost, I am going to disadvantage the taxpayer and war fighter.  I am going to deliver (a weapon with) less capability for more cost.”

At a rally supporting Boeing on April 17, Rep. Tiahrt’s office distributed a list of opportunities to disrupt the deal including the “War Supplemental,” even though the bill “is the wrong venue for a tanker decision.”  However, on April 18, CQ Today reported that Rep. Tiahrt “intends to offer an amendment to the supplemental bill to halt a $35 billion Air Force contract for aerial refueling tankers.”  The amendment would be the largest earmark ever.

The Tiahrt memo also suggests that members “[f]ollow” the lead of House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.), who declared, “All this committee has to do is stop the money, and this program is not going forward.”  Instead, members of Congress should stand aside and wait for the “plane truth” from the Government Accountability Office, which will issue its ruling on Boeing’s protest of the contract on June 19.  Reps. Dicks and Tiahrt are planning to pre-empt that decision, setting a costly and extreme precedent for other members of Congress who are “disappointed” with the outcome of competitively bid contracts.

The whole episode started with a no-bid earmark in the fiscal year 2003 Defense Appropriations Act conference report, directing the Air Force to lease 100 refueling tankers from Boeing.  Subsequent investigations stopped the deal and uncovered a scandal.  When all was said and done, the Air Force’s chief negotiator on the tanker contract and Boeing’s number-two corporate officer went to jail and Boeing was fined a record $615 million.

For their efforts to de-fund what appears to be a competitively awarded contract, undermine the integrity of the procurement process, and abuse the appropriations process with a massive earmark because their favored company lost, CAGW names Reps. Norm Dicks and Todd Tiahrt its April 2008 Porkers of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.