The “zombie” earmark, which was first included in the defense spending bill in 1972, costs millions of dollars annually by requiring the Department of Defense to purchase anthracite coal from Pennsylvania to heat military bases at Kaiserslautern, Germany. Until the Huffman-McClintock effort last year to bury the nearly half-century old earmark, Congress had approved the congressional earmark every year since 1972.
Unfortunately, despite the House’s clear rejection of the policy in 2015, the Appropriations Committee has now resuscitated this earmark. While the new legislative language has the appearance of bolstering U.S. energy exports generally, its practical impact remains the same: spending taxpayer dollars to ship coal 3,000 miles to American bases in Germany.
“Last year, Congress finally acted to save taxpayers millions of dollars each year by ridding ourselves of this zombie earmark. But like a bad sequel it’s back this year, sneaking into the 2017 Defense Appropriations bill under a new name. Even though Congress worked on a bipartisan basis last year to bury this bad idea, it just won’t die,” Huffman said.“There’s no reason we should burn dirty coal—and our taxpayer dollars—to power our military bases, and I look forward to working once again with my Republican colleagues, along with taxpayer and environmental groups, to ensure that this wasteful and earmark is removed from the final Defense Appropriations bill.”
![tom mcclintock congressman](/sierrasuntimes/images/2016/tom-mcclintock-congressman.jpg)
For years, the Department of Defense and the annual President’s budget have urged Congress to remove this earmark and allow the use of cheaper fuel to power its military bases. Huffman and McClintock’s amendment in 2015 was supported by the following national organizations:
· Taxpayers for Common Sense
· Taxpayers Protection Alliance
· National Taxpayers Union
· Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW)
· The Coalition to Reduce Spending
· EarthJustice
· League of Conservation Voters
· Sierra Club
· Environment America
· Public Citizen
· Peace Action West
Source: Representative Jared Huffman