Foreign Policy reported on Tuesday that the Defense Department
awarded 94 contracts totaling over $5.5 billion a day earlier,
ensuring the mightiest military on Earth would stay significantly
well-stocked throughout an indefinite shutdown that has sent
hundreds of thousands of federal workers home without pay and
polarized lawmakers in Washington.
Comparatively, Foreign Policy’s John Reed noted that on September
3 – the first workday of the month – the Pentagon published news
of only 14 contracts: practically one-seventh of what was signed
off on as Monday’s midnight deadline seemed increasingly more
likely to come and go without a compromise.
The shutdown, now in its third day with no end in sight, is
costing the US an estimated $300 million in lost economic output
each day, according to research firm IHS Inc.
But as hundreds of thousands of federal employees remain
furloughed and national parks and programs stay shuttered
indefinitely, the Pentagon does not seem to have much to worry
about.
“This goes to show that even when the federal government is
shut down and the military has temporarily lost half its civilian
workforce, the Pentagon can spend money like almost no one
else,” Reed wrote.
The contracts were handed out to companies providing products or
services for the United States Defense Logistics Agency, as well
as the Navy, Air Force, Army, Defense Threat Reduction Agency,
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Missile Defense
Agency, and Special Operations Command.
Among those newest contracts are $2.5 billion to aircraft
engine-maker Pratt & Whitney for “spare parts,” $66
million for a new fuel pier at the Naval Base Point Loma and $7.5
million for a fleet of 60 Mercedes-Benz trucks to be used by the
US Africa Command.
Also on the ledger is over $15 million for bulk helium, nearly
$66 million on combat helmets and another $9 million for field
jackets to be supplied to the Afghanistan National Police.
Additionally, the Pentagon gave one contractor nearly $10 million
to repair a Defense Department gym. With upgrades, the facility
will receive new racquetball and squash courts, new floors, a
triathlon club, cross fit training space and – for some reason –
a television studio.
The Department of Defense asked for $525.4 billion from the
federal government during Fiscal Year 2013 – a reduction of
around $5.2 billion from the year prior.
As RT recently reported, the Pentagon is expected to spend
upwards of $7 billion during the next year on sending supplies
out of Afghanistan as the US prepares to end the war which is now
in its twelfth year.
Copyright: RT