David Dayen at The Intercept writes—Congress Trying to Sneak Through Major Giveaway to Defense Contractors:
CONGRESS IS ON THE BRINK of a major giveaway to defense contractors, tucking language into a must-pass piece of legislation that would broadly expand their ability to gouge the federal government on sole-source contracts.
The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is practically the only bill Congress passes on time every year. The last 50 NDAA’s, which authorize funds and set policy for the Department of Defense, have reached the president’s desk without a holdup. Education, healthcare, and jobs can wait, but supporting the troops — actually, supporting the defense contractors who make the weapons — must never face a delay. The bill even goes through a regular process, with dozens of amendments and bipartisan votes. It’s like nothing else in Washington.
This year’s version of the NDAA, which authorizes $696 billion in military spending, includes a nice gift for contractors, particularly those that have monopolized a particular part the Pentagon needs. Buried in the NDAA, which [passed the House] Friday, is an increase in the amount of products which can be sold to the military without providing cost information — data about the price of manufacturing and labor. Without this information, monopoly contractors could enjoy a huge markup on their sales to the government without anyone knowing about it.
Section 803 of the House NDAA raises the threshold for cost information in “noncompetitive” contracts — meaning contracts that are sole-source, with no other supplier for the government — from $500,000 to $2.5 million. The Senate version, in Section 813, raises that threshold to $1 million. If both pass as written, the gift to contractors will be assured; the only question would be how big.
Hiding cost information benefits a small group of sole-source contractors, including TransDigm, which I wrote about for The Intercept in April. TransDigm, a private equity-style conglomerate, specializes in cornering the market for proprietary parts for military aircraft and then jacking up the price. Several Democrats in Congress have highlighted TransDigm’s practices, and the Defense Department’s inspector general is actively investigating the company. [...]
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QUOTATION
“American imperialism has suffered a stunning defeat in Indochina. But the same forces are engaged In another war against a much less resilient enemy, the American people. Here, the prospects for success are much greater. The battleground is ideological, not military. At stake are the lessons to be drawn from the American war in Indochina; the outcome will determine the course and character of new imperial ventures.”
~Noam Chomsky, 1975
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2004—GOP web fundraisers take 30 percent cut:
There's been a great deal of discussion over the GOP's new plan giving their online fundraisers a 30 percent cut of money raised. Some thing it's crass or unethical, but it's neither of those.
Professional fundraisers often take cuts that large, sometimes larger, in their efforts to raise money for campaigns and organizations. So there's nothing wrong in giving those same terms to their online bundlers.
But here's the key. There are two types of fundraisers --
- Professional fundraisers. As discussed they take a cut of money raised.
- Bundlers. These are known as "rangers" and "pioneers" in the world of Bush fundraising.
There is an important distinction between the two --
The professional fundraisers are engaged in a business relationship with the party. Nothing more. They have no further influence or "seat at the table", so to speak. They take their 30-50 percent cut and call it a day.
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On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: It feels like we’re in for another wild weekend, so we recap where we are on Trump-Russia, Jr.’s meeting, Veselnitskaya, her money laundering client, Trump’s other money-laundering Russian pals, and other peripheral players in this ongoing, rolling disaster.
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