For those of you not familiar with the Northrup Grumman, here is Novak's description:
"An earmark in the bill's Senate version would give $500 million to Northrop Grumman to reimburse cost overruns on U.S. Navy shipbuilding contracts caused by Katrina damage at the Mississippi Gulf Coast shipyards in Pascagoula and Gulfport.
...The company, whose revenue last year totaled $40.7 billion, has received $500 million from its insurer and is in litigation seeking another $500 million. The Defense Contract Management Agency has declared "it would be inappropriate to allow Northrop Grumman to bill for costs potentially recoverable by insurance because payment by the government may otherwise relieve the carrier from their policy obligation." Factory Mutual Insurance Co., with 2004 revenue of $2.7 billion, then would be receiving indirect corporate welfare."
Fortunately, Senator Tom Coburn caught this piece of pork in the bill which would have provided "emergency funds for the war against terror and for Hurricane Katrina relief." Coburn added an amendment which:
"...barely lost, 51 to 48, in a rare Senate vote crossing party lines. Republicans split 28 to 27 against Mississippi's powerful senators, with John McCain and Majority Leader Bill Frist supporting Coburn. Democrats voted 24 to 20 for Northrop Grumman. North Dakota's twin deficit hawks, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, voted with Coburn, but Edward M. Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Democratic Leader Harry Reid supported corporate welfare."
Amazing how the split votes looked very similar for both parties, isn't it? When it comes to pork, there is NO DIFFERENCE between the two parties. They are both slime.
It is also interesting to note how Kennedy, Clinton, and Reid all supported corporate welfare. Or is it they are in favor of ANY kind of welfare? Not that Democrats would ever worry about spending someone else's money. Or Republicans for that matter.
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