Legal Newswire Blog

House lawmakers spending spree for eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes reminds me of a famous line from the movie Contact, starring Jodie Foster and John Hurt. The line goes like this:

“Why buy three when you can buy six at twice the price.”

In this case Congress wants to buy eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes!

Even the Pentagon said it doesn’t need half of the new jets.

“The whole thing kind of makes me sick to my stomach,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) in an interview Sunday. “It is evidence that some of the cynicism about Washington is well placed — that people get out of touch and they spend money like it’s Monopoly money.”

The funding for new planes is “a classic example of Congress being out of touch with the realities of deficit spending,” said Senator John Thune (R, S.D.).

The Obama administration had sought $220 million to buy four passenger jets, including two that are currently being leased by the Air Force, to replace a fleet of older planes. Before leaving town for the August break, House lawmakers doubled the aircraft order to eight, at a total cost of $550 million. Read full story here.

Locate A Lawyer is an attorney directory where one can find a lawyer by practice and location.