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Are nuclear weapons contractors millions in campaign contributions buying favors?
- 6-13-2012
- Categorized in: NUCLEAR WEAPONS
One more reason the US presses forward with nuclear weapons despite full knowledge of their terrible cost? Lawmakers are being paid...
GalesburgPlanet.com l R. Jeffrey Smith — Center for Public Integrity 12 June, 2012
Employees of private companies that produce the main pieces of the U.S. nuclear arsenal have invested more than $18 million in the election campaigns of lawmakers that oversee related federal spending, and the companies also employ more than 95 former members of Congress or Capitol Hill staff to lobby for government funding, according to a new report.
| Company | Technologies Developed | 2012 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin | bombers and warhead components | $535,000 | $2,764,949 |
| Honeywell International | warhead components | $464,582 | $2,199,431 |
| Northrop Grumman | bombers and warhead components | $464,000 | $2,568,748 |
| Boeing Co | bombers | $336,750 | $2,272,551 |
| General Dynamics | submarines | $293,850 | $2,183,461 |
| General Electric | bomber engines | $231,450 | $2,097,720 |
| United Technologies | bomber engines | $158,000 | $1,065,350 |
| Fluor Corp | warhead components | $103,150 | $652,149 |
| Bechtel Group | submarines and warhead components | $98,500 | $769,550 |
| Babcock & Wilcox | warhead components | $92,000 | $449,749 |
“Total contributions” is the total given to current members of the key committees over their political careers.
Source: The Center for International Policy
The Center for International Policy, a nonprofit group that supports the “demilitarization” of U.S. foreign policy, released the report on Wednesday to highlight what it described as the heavy influence of campaign donations and pork barrel politics on a part of the defense budget not usually associated with large profits or contractor power: nuclear arms.
As Congress deliberated this spring on nuclear weapons-related projects, including funding for the development of more modern submarines and bombers, the top 14 contractors gave nearly $3 million to the 2012 reelection campaigns of lawmakers whose support they needed for these and other projects, the report disclosed.
Half of that sum went to members of the six key committees or subcommittees that must approve all spending for nuclear arms — the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and the Energy and Water or Defense appropriations subcommittees, according to data the Center compiled from the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. The rest went to lawmakers who are active on nuclear weapons issues because they have related factories or laboratories in their states or districts.
Read Report: Bombs vs Budgets: Inside the Nuclear Weapons Lobby
