Army says no to more tanks, but Congress insists

In this article posted by Fox News, it details how the U.S. Congress is insisting that the United States Army continues to build M1A2 Main Battle Tanks and to continue to upgrade these Main Battle Tanks. Lawmakers from both parties have given half a billion dollars over the past two years to build improved version of the M1A2 but senior army staff have said "no thanks". "If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way," Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week. So the question is why Congress is giving money to the Army that it doesn't even want for the purpose of building and upgrading M1A2 tanks. The article highlights that If there's a home of the Abrams, it's politically important Ohio. The nation's only tank plant is in Lima. So it's no coincidence that the champions for more tanks are Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, two of Capitol's Hill most prominent deficit hawks, as well as Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. They said their support is rooted in protecting national security, not in pork-barrel politics.
I hope that they are telling the truth but when the Army and weapons experts agree that the Army does not need new tanks I get a feeling the congressmen are using pork-barrel politics and are saying its for national defense. I don't understand why politicians have to tell the Army how to run things I will simple put it as let the Army run the affairs of the Army and Congress run the affairs of Congress

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/28/army-says-no-to-more-tanks-but-congress-insists/#ixzz2RmYX59Ci