Contact: At POGO, Eric Miller at defense@pogo.org or Beth Daley at beth@pogo.org
(202) 347-1122
At Taxpayers for Common Sense, Keith Ashdown 202-546-8500 x110 keith@taxpayer.net
At Military Money Project, Dina Rasor (510) 235-5021 dinarasor@earthlink.net

Organizations committed to conservative spending urged Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to stand firm in his decision to cancel the C-130J airlift program today, citing concern over his recent statements saying that he would reevaluate the Pentagon’s proposal to cut the program.

In recent days, C-130J advocates have argued that canceling the program could cost up to $1 billion. However, a letter from Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), Military Money Project (MMP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) to Secretary Rumsfeld argues that “those numbers are inflated,” citing the contract’s “cancellation ceiling amount of $383.3 million,” if it were cancelled on Secretary Rumsfeld’s proposed schedule. 

The letter also suggests such cancellation costs may be unwarranted: “We believe the C-130J could be cancelled for cause. In that case, the government pays no cancellation fee,” noting that independent reports show that the C-130J has been unable to perform critical missions.

Another letter issued today by the 350,000 member National Taxpayers Union (http://www.ntu.org) also urged Secretary Rumsfeld to cut the program: “the preponderance of evidence continues to show that termination of the program is the best option for taxpayers and the military. From 1998 through 2004, authoritative sources such as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Defense Department Inspector General have documented the aircraft’s numerous performance deficiencies. Just last month, the Defense Department’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation added to this volume of criticism by identifying defects in C-130J’s subsystem reliability, software, and defensive features.”

POGO, MMP and TCS add in its letter: “We hope you will stick with your decision to end the overpriced, unneeded and problem-plagued C-130J program, and that you will carefully examine information that comes to you from those who are not acting in the best interests of the Air Force or the taxpayers.”

For more information on the C-130J:

• POGO’s C-130J Archives
  
  
• Taxpayers for Common Sense Fact Sheet “The C-130J: Herculean Pork” at

POGO investigates, exposes, and seeks to remedy systemic abuses of power, mismanagement, and subservience by the federal government to powerful special interests. Founded in 1981, POGO is a politically-independent, nonprofit watchdog that strives to promote a government that is accountable to the citizenry.

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) is a non-partisan budget watchdog. TCS is dedicated to cutting wasteful spending and subsidies in order to achieve a responsible and efficient government that lives within its means.

The Military Money Project, (MMP) a project of the National Whistleblower Center , concentrates on following the large increases in the U.S. military budget. While other organizations deal with the foreign policy implications of military spending, MMP uniquely follows the money.

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