$380 Million For MEADS

Despite being rejected by three-out-of-four relevant congressional committees, funding for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on July 31, 2012 included in its version of the Department of Defense (DOD) spending bill $380 million for the widely-criticized missile defense system.  Previously, the House Armed Services Committee, the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and the Senate Committee on Armed Services (SCAS) have zeroed out funding for MEADS.  Since no authorization exists for MEADS, the funding added by the Senate subcommittee qualifies as an earmark under Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) longstanding criteria.

MEADS’ troubles have been well-documented by CAGW.  The program has been plagued with cost overruns of nearly $2 billion and is 10 years behind schedule.  A March 9, 2010 Washington Post report quoted an internal U.S. Army memo asserting that the program “will not meet U.S. requirements or address the current and emerging threat without extensive and costly modifications.”  

After witnessing the tortured path of the MEADS project, it’s not hard to understand why Congress faces such gridlock when determining solutions to avoid the automatic DOD cuts posed by sequestration.  Members can’t even agree to rid taxpayers of a program that has encountered such massive cost overruns, delays, and poor performance.  Eliminating MEADS would serve as a fine example of a judicious approach to trimming DOD waste; the continuation of funding by the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee represents a squandered opportunity.