Sen. John McCain spent a good bit of time on the Senate floor this week battling earmarks that his colleagues want to stuff into the 2010 Defense appropriations bill. One such earmark included this: a Montana project called the Magnetohydrodynamics Accelerator Research Into Advanced Hypersonics wind tunnel, or MARIAH.
Since 2004, Congress has earmarked $70 million for MARIAH and now wants to blow another $9.5 million on the project that McCain said neither the Army nor the Air Force want.
McCain, a former sailor, said critics claim Congress spends like a drunken sailor on liberty. But he said, "I do not use that phrase anymore because I never knew a sailor, either drunk or sober, with the imagination members of Congress have, which is best epitomized in this bill."
Bob Brewin
Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.
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