Cochran Delivers $500 Million In “Emergency” Pork To Cash Rich Defense Contractor
Cochran Delivers $500 Million In “Emergency” Pork To Cash Rich Defense Contractor
This week, the Senate is set to consider a $106.5 billion “emergency” spending bill that is supposed to provide critical funds for Iraq, Afghanistan and Gulf Coast reconstruction. For Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) it’s just another opportunity to bring home the bacon.
A two-hour Senate mark-up saw the spending bill grow by “$80 million per minute.” That included an egregious $500 million giveaway to Northrop Grumman Corp.
Here’s how it works. Northrop Grumman operates a naval facility in Mississippi that was impacted by the hurricane season. Northup Grumman is insured for the “business disruption” costs of the hurricane. (They are currently litigating the final payout with their insurance company.) But Cochran inserted a provision that would require the Navy to pay Northrop Grumman up to $500 million immediately. The money would come out of “$2.7 billion in appropriated funds for Katrina-related damage.”
The Pentagon strongly opposes the provision. Northrop is supposed to reimburse the Navy when the insurance claim is settled, but if Northrup is paid by the Navy in advance, that might not happen:
Northrop argues it could take years to resolve the insurance claims. The Pentagon’s contract office argued the provision would be “inappropriate” and could set a precedent for insurers to deny claims in the future if the government agrees to pay in advance.
Advance payment by the government “may otherwise relieve the carrier from their policy obligation,” said a Sept. 28, 2005, memo from Donald Springer, a Defense Contract Management Agency executive.
Cash flow is not a problem for the company. In 2005, Northrop Grumman had over $30 billion in revenues.
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24 Responses to “Cochran Delivers $500 Million In “Emergency” Pork To Cash Rich Defense Contractor”
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We’re back to the era of the $800 toilet seat.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:59 amI’m sure Thad will vote against any tax rebates for the poor to relieve the excess profits they will pay to gas companies this year as “inappropriate.”
April 24th, 2006 at 11:05 amGeeeeeees, put these guys at the head of the money grubbing whores line. More for Bush and Cheneys new best friends.Never mind the 85,000 still displased and 1,300 still missing in the south. No longer are we the country for the people, we have become the corprate controled………..Blessings
April 24th, 2006 at 11:11 am#1 - We’ll be really lucky if that’s all they’re charging.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:31 amPork, its whats for dinner
April 24th, 2006 at 11:38 amCorruption in DC is a pandemic now, so God help us all!
April 24th, 2006 at 11:46 amI hope TP comes down as hard on a Democratic Congress for pork after 2006. :)
April 24th, 2006 at 11:48 amI hope TP comes down as hard on a Democratic Congress for pork after 2006. :)
Comment by Lesly — April 24, 2006 @ 11:48 am
Great point. In fact, let’s take it a step further. I think in the interest of fairness, Think Progress should investigate a possible Democratic Congress in 2006 and beyond with the same dedication and effort that the current GOP led Congress has enforced its oversight on the Bush Administration. :)
April 24th, 2006 at 12:01 pmI agree with bluefish. Both sides of the isle have been playing this game for many dacades and is now at it’s worst. Where is the call from either side stating that the Iraq war was the illegal war that it is? Why are the perpetrators of 9/11 our friends (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Kuwait…)? It’s all for money to go to corrupt corporations that can’t survive without no bid, cost plus contracts, big oil and the like that both sides of the isle has stuffed with tax dollars without review since WW II.
April 24th, 2006 at 12:10 pmIt’s a problem from both sides of the isle. There is no oversigt in pushing through pork to companies that have no-bid, at cost plus contracts.
April 24th, 2006 at 12:13 pmIf you want to know what’s really been going on in the White House, Congress, Pentagon and Iraq, vote for a Democrat for Congress.
If you like being lied to, if you like being treated like a child, if you want to see 1,000,000 American kids drafted into an Iran war, if you want to see a national energy policy run by the world’s largest oil companies, if you want to see a national debt of over 10 trillion dollars, if you like seeing your job, or your kids’ jobs, being taken by illegal immigrants, if you like seeing your job, or your kids’ jobs, being taken overseas, if you like seeing the end of the freedoms you’ve enjoyed for your entire life, if you like all those things, vote Republican.
If you have HAD ENOUGH of Republican leadership, give subpeona power to a Democratic-majority Congress. Take your country back.
April 24th, 2006 at 12:21 pm“Cash flow is not a problem for the company. In 2005, Northrop Grumman had over $30 billion in revenues.”
Revenues != profit, come on TP, you don’t need to spin this one to show how wrong it is.
April 24th, 2006 at 1:00 pmThere really needs to be a slew of new rules for the restriction of Congressmen and women who are using their positions on the various committees to “benefit” their personal priorities, taking care of their Corporate “clientele” first, and letting everyone else fight over what little remains. Well NOW I understand why it seems like they are back for more money, just a few weeks after the last “emergency”, but still not seeing ANY improvements of the situations for which the money was supposedly needed. The money isn’t even getting to them in the first place!!! And is it any surprise that the Pentagon is against the Senator’s idea? They do not have to account for where they ‘lost’ the money, uhhh… I mean SPENT the money… yeah, my bad. Bygones! BushCo will miss the Pentagon the most, I think. 3 Trillion, yes, Trillion, has just wandered off all by itself, since Rummy has been the ‘Boss’. it is one of those pesky “unknown-knowns”, you know? That Senator’s Corporate pal can just wait for their settlement, just like everyone else has too. Or maybe they could call one of those companies that advertise on tv, they will give you money RIGHT NOW, if you are waiting on a settlement. Worth a try, anyway. ;)
April 24th, 2006 at 1:09 pmOINK !
April 24th, 2006 at 1:10 pmPork Busted…
Think Progress e-mails me with a fine example of pork.
April 24th, 2006 at 2:43 pmThe junior Senator from Mississippi seems to have inserted into an aid package a provision that would advance Northrop Grumman up to a half billion dollars towards future contract payments by th…
Why is a critical defense contractor located where it can be impacted seriously by a strong tropical storm? If it has to be located in MS, why was it not storm hardened?
April 24th, 2006 at 3:13 pm#12 Cash Flow minus costs equals profits….thus if the corporation has 30 billion in positivbe cash flow they have enough to pay their bills and do not need a government give away of half a billion dollars…that money could be use better elsewhere but good ole boy Thad is probably looking toward his next major campaign contribution and acting as a good repiglican does.
April 24th, 2006 at 3:35 pmClif, thanks for the most laughable comment yet,and I don’t say that lightly;you’ve had some doozies.
April 24th, 2006 at 5:04 pmYour lack of accounting knowledge is astonishing in both its breadth and depth. Cash flow minus costs equals profits……..good one! Idiot.
This is why my ex-wife’s family who joined Organized Crime calls this “The World’s Largest Criminal Systemâ€. What’s missing are the links to money given to other countries! Plus, look over the Military more closely, there’s more there too.
Now as everyone can see the money being handed out, start looking more closely at how they manage the criminal system! The wiretapping and snooping are vital to manage and secure their criminal operations. Anyone of us who know something more than others are targets for their wiretapping. This is even if we only wrote negative posts like I do! I’m more than certain my name is one of their targets! When this surfaces later to be true, please remember that the snooping never started after 9/11, it really started decades before! I know that because I was in a family who is part of this. They made wiretapping public because they had a “REASON†with what happened with 9/11. Remember, corruption only happens when you have a REASON to spend treasury money. Without a REASON, no spending and thus, NO corruption! PORK is our description of excuses to spend treasury money! They have to manufacture REASONS to spend our money, even if it means fabricating a REASON for WAR.
In the Political Corruption arm of this criminal system, please realize that this same scenario exists in other countries such as the UK and elsewhere. And that they have inner communication links which are how they manage to coordinate between each other. The drug system uses this exclusively and in the US those involved can learn about anyone, anywhere, who are involved, even if they are using drugs. Remember, people who use drugs aren’t going to advertise they are using drugs, only the inside drug people know. I’m not the only one who has experienced the existence of this communication link, so remember there are others like me who know.
While in the family, my oldest son lived in Wyoming with his mom and step dad. My wife was suspicious and went to her father, then the criminal system to learn what they were doing. I was without knowledge of this and later, she approached me with options. She learned that they were drug addicts and were using all their money to buy drugs. This started with my son complained to my wife about eating boxed food three times a day. My father-in-law offered the option of having something DONE to them, if I wanted! Being totally shocked and wondering where this was coming from, I asked to think about it for a little while. I used the time to talk to my wife and learn more. I didn’t know where this came from, what it was all about and what they would want to do to them
Some things mentioned were they could be setup to be arrested and even something worse, if I wanted. Hearing rumors over the years in the family about setup murder(s), I feared the worse could happen. I didn’t want to be part of anything and didn’t especially want any harm to come to them. I thought sooner or later it may change, knowing who they were and thank God, this is what happened. They ended up moving to the mid-west to get away from the drug scene and start a new life. At the same time, my son came to live with me and stayed through out his college days.
BUT, the important message from this is that this Criminal Group has strong communication links everywhere within it’s reach. It’s REACH means, anywhere they sell drugs, which is in their case means anywhere on this planet! Remember, this is an International Drug Distribution Network that includes Very Wide Spread Political Corruption including our Federal Level down to Local Levels. Wide scale Fraud involves many different types of Fraud and you see some of this in the news too.
Yes, I do understand that this is difficult to believe, but I can assure you that it’s totally true. There are other criminal levels to this far worse than just corruption. They involve the worst criminal behaviors imaginable and it’s all happening right in our backyard.
We are all FOOLS to TRUST them!
April 24th, 2006 at 6:02 pmLesly and TJM. You dolts. They had revenues of $30 bil!!!!! Do you really think all that was tied up in long term assets and short term liabilities??? Damn, you toads really can spin anything.
April 24th, 2006 at 10:56 pmIsn’t this why Northrop named Richard Myers to the Board of Directors???
April 24th, 2006 at 11:17 pm#17. Hey bright boy. You know so much about Northrup’s books. Show us all how smart you are and explain it to us.
April 25th, 2006 at 8:06 am[…] Blog Name: Think Progress Article Title: Cochran Delivers $500 Million In ?Emergency? Pork To Cash Rich Defense Contractor This week, the Senate is set to consider a $106.5 billion “emergency” spending bill that is supposed to provide critical funds for Iraq, Afghanistan and Gulf Coast reconstruction. For Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) it&… […]
June 8th, 2006 at 6:23 pm[…] 89. Congress included a $500 million giveaway to defense giant Northup Grumman in a bill that was supposed to provide “emergency” funding for Iraq, even though the Navy opposed the payment. [Link] […]
November 6th, 2006 at 6:25 pm