Shameful.
Congresscritters often go through all sorts of pork barrel shenanigans, especially of a military nature — to benefit their constituents. No weapons system is too flawed that some Representative won’t push for it if it’s manufactured in their district. No military base is too superfluous that some Senator won’t do his or her darnedest to keep it open.
And it’s in the latter case that Larry Craig, Republican Senator from Idaho, is stepping over the line. It’s one thing to vote for covert jobs programs. It’s quite another to hold up Air Force promotions to blackmail the Pentagon into benefitting his state.
Sen. Larry Craig, a Republican from Idaho, has put a hold on more than 200 Air Force promotions in an attempt to pressure the Air Force to live up to what he described as a commitment to station four new C-130 cargo planes in his home state.
In an interview Monday with CNN, Craig defended the move, saying that he received a commitment from the Air Force almost seven years ago that the planes would be delivered.
The hold was first reported in The Washington Post over the weekend. Craig’s office said 212 nominations were on hold, but Pentagon officials said the number of nominations that could be affected by the move is higher.
Way to support the troops there, Mr Senator. Other reports put the number at 850 promotions.
Craig is torqued because he says the Air Force refuses to send four new C-130 aircraft to an Idaho Air National Guard base. Regardless of the reasons (and, frankly, it sounds like a goofy commitment for the USAF to have made, assuming they did, in the first place), holding up promotions (which require pro forma Senate approval) in retaliation is a despicable tactic.
I’m not happy about delaying tactics of federal offices and appointments in general — it’s a trend that both parties have been far too willing to keep escalating. This particular variation of it is just plain wrong.