Udall, Colleagues Call on Defense Secretary to Eliminate Pentagon Waste
Bipartisan letter opposes funding for troubled weapons program
Mark Udall joined Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), David Vitter (R-La.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, renewing their calls on the Department of Defense (DOD) to eliminate Pentagon waste by halting funding for an over-budget and behind-schedule missile defense system.
The Pentagon has said it does not intend to procure the program known as the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), which has been plagued by consistent scheduling delays and cost overruns, as well as an overall failure to deliver results. The senators' letter comes amid looming sequestration cuts and reflects a bipartisan effort to identify and eliminate waste at the Pentagon during this time of budgetary constraints.
"With a national debt surpassing $16 trillion, we can no longer afford to waste taxpayer money developing weapons programs the warfighter will never use. In March 2010 it was widely reported the Army found 'the system will not meet U.S. requirements or address the current and emerging threat without extensive and costly modifications.' The program has been plagued with cost overruns of nearly $2 billion and is 10 years behind schedule," the senators wrote. "With budget constraints and well-documented development problems with MEADS these modifications are not a feasible option."
The program, which the military has made clear it does not intend to use, is being primarily developed overseas in Italy and Germany while costing the U.S. government millions of dollars. The DOD requested an additional $401 million for MEADS in President Obama's budget for Fiscal Year 2013.
The U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives committees on Armed Services and the House Defense Appropriations Committee all excluded the requested funding for MEADS in their Fiscal Year 2013 DOD appropriations and authorization bills. With the government operating under a temporary continuing resolution, the senators believe the DOD should not spend any money on the program until the relevant budget bills are complete.
To read the full text of the signed letter, click HERE.