They Call Him “The Prince of Pork” Because “King of Bullcrap” Isn’t An Alliteration
Republican Rep. Harold Rogers of Kentucky is head of the Appropriations Committee. He is helping to shoulder the awesome responsibility of letting Americans know that the GOP is only joking about this whole cutting spending thing.
In the 1980s, the military had its infamous $800 toilet seat. Today, it has a $17,000 drip pan.
Thanks to a powerful Kentucky congressman who has steered tens of millions of federal dollars to his district, the Army has bought about $6.5 million worth of the “leakproof” drip pans in the past three years to catch transmission fluid on Black Hawk helicopters. And it might want more from the Kentucky company that makes the pans, even though a similar pan from another company costs a small fraction of the price: about $2,500.
He has been called The Prince of Pork by the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper. He defends these expenditures by claiming that the $17,000 drip pans “work well” and, he adds, “they save the taxpayer money.” Well hell, that’s two more things than Rep. Harold Rogers does.
Thanks to David for the heads up.
I think you forgot the critical perspective about “cutting spending” by the Republicans. They are serious about cutting spending…on social and domestic programs, not on military spending.
What boggles my mind is that $17,000 is the discounted price (down from $19,000 retail). How many non-military Black Hawks are out there anyways?
1And of course, “cutting spending” applies to other districts than the ones they represent, because heaven forbid they cut spending that might help them get re-elected!
2Just how much does it cost to repair the blasted transmission so that it doesn’t leak?
3And you thought the only guys Kentucky could find were Mitch and Rand. We got LOTS of them.
4The drip pan (and other items) should come up for government bid periodically. In Texas, it is every two years when our Legislature meets. How he got away with choosing a $17K drip pan over a $2.5K drip pan (and saying it saves the taxpayers money) boggles the mind. You’d have to lose a freaking lot of oil to make the $17K drip pan cost effective.
Being a geek, I looked up the retail price of 10W30 auto oil. It costs ~$20 for 5 quarts. So let’s say the helicopter military equivalent was $50/gallon (rounding up for different vehicle and stupid purchasing policies with taxpayer money). The pan would have to lose 290 gallons over its lifetime (and a lot more if I rounded the price up too high) to make the more expensive one more cost effective. I don’t find that likely.
Just realized it’s transmission fluid, not oil. The prices seem to range about $16-$20/gallon, so the above calculations still work. And even less likely than an oil plug to lose significant oil, I would think.
5Our tax money goes to congress. Chairman Rodgers recommends that an obscene amount of money is allocated to the Army so that they can purchase drip pans for helicopters. The drip pans are purchased in Rodgers home state. The company that makes the drip pans is so grateful to the Chairman that campaign contributions are bestowed on the Congressman. Drip pans today – what surprise is in store for my tax dollars tomorrow?
6my solution to the budget cutting: every member of the House of (un)Representatives has to find 5% to cut in HIS OR HER OWN DISTRICT. No trades. No exceptions.
7Father Hal has been in since 1981. People in his district act like he’s some kind of God or King. I’ve never understood it, are these Kentuckians really that stupid? I’ve always thought he was a snake in the grass. He always acts like he will run for Govenor some day but says his country needs him and his beloved more than Kentucky does and then promotes some candidate…like he did at the Lincoln Dinners for Fletcher , a few years back! The drip pans don’t surprise me, there’s more where that came from; just stay tuned!!
8