On Wednesday night, House lawmakers voted to approve an amendment to H.R. 2685, the Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations Act of 2016, to end the shipment of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania all the way to the Kaiserslautern U.S. military base in Germany, where it is used for heating fuel. Sending coal practically halfway across the world just to heat one base might seem crazy – because it is.
Like so much other mischief in the Federal budget, from “bridges to nowhere” and studying the effects of alcohol on the motor skills of mice, this wasteful boondoggle started as a earmark concocted by a group of Pennsylvania legislators all the way back in 1961 to benefit one particular industry and company in the eastern part of the state. Since then, taxpayers have spent billions to schlep coal across the Atlantic, despite abundant, lower cost alternatives. And though the lawmakers who initiated the scheme have long left office, and indeed some have left this mortal coil, the earmark has persisted practically on autopilot.
Luckily, our friends at the Taxpayers for Common Sense brought the issue to light, bestowing on it the “honor” of their “Golden Fleece Award,” explaining:
In May 1961, a handful of lawmakers wanted to prop up a dying industry in northeast Pennsylvania. They succeeded and now, more than half a century later, the United States military is still powering its base in Kaiserslautern, Germany with coal bought and shipped from Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. It’s the last remnant of a monstrous subsidy secured by the Keystone Congressmen that at its peak required the Department of Defense to buy 500,000 tons of anthracite coal a year. The 9,000 tons that traveled 4,000 miles to Kaiserslautern last year is peanuts in comparison, but the provision that mandated the coal’s purchase and outlasted its makers is costing taxpayers $20 million a year.
The whole sordid tale is a worth a read and gives insight into just how hard it can be to achieve change and reforms in Washington.
But it’s not impossible. After an earlier attempt to strip Section 8053 from the bill and finally eliminate the mandate in committee fell short, Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) kept up the fight - offering an amendment when the legislation came to the House floor. He was joined by a California colleague from across the aisle and NTU Taxpayer Friend award winner, Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA). There, the amendment prevailed with 252 Members of the House supporting it!
Saving taxpayers approximately $20 million a year might seem like small potatoes when the underlying bill is over half a trillion dollars ($578.6 billion), but when that earmark has been around since 1962, the dollars really begin to add up. In a statement following passage, Rep. Huffman accurately described what a big win this seemingly modest amendment is for taxpayers:
For decades, the Department of Defense has urged Congress to remove this earmark and allow the use of cheaper fuel to power its military bases. Today we finally achieve that goal and have removed this half-century old earmark that never should have existed, saving taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
The passage of this amendment is proof-positive that Republicans and Democrats can work together to cut wasteful spending while protecting the environment. I thank the members that voted with me to finally end this wasteful boondoggle. It’s about time we stopped burning dirty coal—and taxpayer dollars—to power this military base.
The Huffman/McClintock team was joined by a diverse group of outside supporters, including NTU who issued a key-vote alert, urging Representatives to vote “Yes.”
In addition to working to make sure this amendment makes it all the way into law, through the rest of the DoD appropriations legislative process, taxpayers can point to this amendment as a good model for future reforms – there’s no end of opportunities.