Appropriators Vote to Block Pentagon Sports Sponsorships [View all]

[Purveyor]

The U.S. military would be blocked from spending money on sports teams and sponsorships under an amendment the House Appropriations Committee added today by voice vote to the draft fiscal 2013 Defense appropriations bill.

The Defense Department will spend $80 million this year to sponsor NASCAR teams, Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, and Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, said in a joint statement.

That includes the U.S. Army-branded #39 car driven by Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 Chevrolet, of which the National Guard is a leading sponsor. The military spent $1 billion over the last 10 years on sports sponsorship deals, according to McCollum and Kingston, including with NASCAR, professional bass fishing and ultimate fighting.

“The government borrows forty cents for every dollar it spends and this is where we’re spending it?” Kingston said in the statement. “In the face of deep cuts and troop force reductions, the military should not be spending nearly $100 million sponsoring professional sports.”

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http://go.bloomberg.com/political-economy/2012-05-17/appropriators-vote-to-block-pentagon-sports-sponsorships/