Debate on earmarks is heating up

Rep. Doug Lamborn is seeking $63.3 million in special-project funding in the 2009 budget. All is defenserelated.

Lamborn wants $14.9 million for Peterson Air Force Base projects, $10 million for Schriever Air Force Base and $37.75 million for projects under development by defense contractors. Another $687,000 would be spent on Highway 115 access to Fort Carson.

The total is about 19 percent less than the earmarks Lamborn helped sponsor in the 2008 budget.

Earmarks are amendments for specific projects that Congress members tack on the 12 spending bills they approve. The ability of lawmakers to add funding for pet projects has become hotly debated as earmark funding has skyrocketed. In the 2008 budget, Congress and the president designated $18.3 billion in earmarks, $7.9 billion of which was attached to the defense bill.

Although lawmakers aren't required to disclose their requests, Lamborn released his last week "in the interest of transparency."

That places him in the minority.

"There are only 110 lawmakers in the House and Senate who either don't request any earmarks or (who) disclose their earmark requests," said Steve Ellis, vice president with the Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog that reports extensively on earmarks.

The public usually learns of earmarks when appropriations bills are proposed, with a report attached listing the requests. That process gets under way soon.

A spokesman for Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said he releases only his requested earmarks that get funded. Allard has made no requests for the 2009 budget.

Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, doesn't release earmarks until they're presented to the Appropriations Committees, spokeswoman Stephanie Valencia said.

She said confidentiality is maintained for various reasons, including competitive advantage for companies seeking funding to develop technology.

Salazar thinks earmarks "bring important revenue to Colorado," she said, and address key issues, such as water and health care.
Last year, Lamborn joined other members of Colorado's delegation to secure $78.5 million in funding in the 2008 budget, including $61.3 million for a Denver veteran's hospital.

Lamborn's 2009 requests include smaller-ticket items.

The first-term Republican congressman said he doesn't consider his funding requests to be earmarks.

One reason, he said, is because he's stipulated his requests will be funded only through cuts or funding delays of other programs. For example, he said the future combat search and rescue helicopter program will be delayed for technical reasons, freeing roughly $55 million for his requests.

Also, Lamborn said, his requests are not local and narrow in purpose but rather in the national interest.

The largest, $12 million, is for development and testing of an ejection seat on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, which is being developed by Goodrich Corp., which has a plant in Colorado Springs.

The only other manufacturer is a foreign company, Lamborn said, so it's likely Goodrich will get the deal.

Goodrich Corp. Political Action Committee gave Lamborn three, $1,000 contributions - in August and December of 2007 and on March 25, according to federal campaign reports.

Another Lamborn funding request targets $3.5 million for a Woodland Park firm, Sturman Industries. Sturman's president Carol Sturman gave Lamborn a $250 campaign contribution in July and a $1,000 contribution in December.

It's the second time Lamborn has sought money for the digital engine/hydraulic valve project to enhance fuel efficiency in trucks under development by Sturman. The firm received $800,000 in the 2008 budget with Lamborn's help.

Lamborn said the contributions and funding requests aren't connected and that both projects will benefit the military.

Asked if other campaign contributors are among the recipients of his funding requests, Lamborn said, "There might be, but I don't pay a lot of attention to who gives me or doesn't give me contributions. That has nothing to do with the kind of funding request I'm making."

He said the Pentagon would decide who gets contracts for his projects.

Lamborn's two opponents in this year's primary election are split on the issue.

Jeff Crank calls earmarks a "scourge" that undermines fiscal common sense. He opposes them.

Bentley Rayburn said the only way to rein in earmarks might be to scrap the process and enact a new program in which Congress would seek specialproject funding.

For a list of Lamborn's 2009 requests, http://lamborn.house.gov/Issues and click on FY2009 Funding Requests.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com

EARMARKS SOUGHT IN 2009 BUDGET

Peterson Air Force Base

$4.9 million: 23-acre land acquisition for Peterson to provide force protection. Peterson is the headquarters for Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, but it doesn't meet Pentagon requirements for buffer zones created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

$6 million: Expeditionary 200 kilowatt alternative power and energy efficient generator at Peterson. Demonstrates and qualifies in a cold climate an innovative, energy efficient alternative power technology for an Air Force installation.

$4 million: Would create an interchange at Powers Boulevard to improve access to the base on the west side.

Schriever Air Force Base

$10 million: Modeling and simulation at the missile defense integration and operations center, the proving ground for current and future missile defense programs. It also bridges the gap between developmental systems and operations.

Unspecified recipients

$12 million: Development and testing of the ACES 5 ejection seat for the F-35 Joint Strike fighter jet.

$6.25 million: Develops radiation hardened memory technology to be used in satellites.

$3.5 million: Digital engine/hydraulic valve actuation technology that would develop technology to increase truck engine fuel efficiency up to 50 percent for a variety of fuels.

$6.5 million: Upgrade Webster-ACE, a comprehensive set of software tools designed to gather, assess and manage information from databases and open-source material.

$4 million: Space and electronic warfare analysis tools to create a common operation environment for Army support teams by incorporating space object data, improving navigation accuracy and integrating electronic warfare analysis.

$5.5 million: High altitude long endurance development program to develop capability to improve battlefield communications and surveillance.

$687,000: Improvements at Fort Carson's Gates 5 and 6 on Highway 115.