FOXES GUARDING THE HENHOUSE: Yet Another Example of Why Politicians Can’t Be Trusted With Our Money.

FOXES GUARDING THE HENHOUSE: Yet Another Example of Why Politicians Can’t Be Trusted With Our Money.

Less than three months after jockeying for position to stand in front of reporters’ cameras in order to vilify auto executives for flying into Washington DC on private corporate jets to beg for a bailout, the House voted to spend $550 million for eight Air Force planes for use by "senior government officials."

Let’s see, … ‘senior government officials,’ now, who’s on that list? Mmm, oh, yeah, -- like maybe, members of Congress, for instance? Yeah, I think so.

The Pentagon definitely did not request that many. The plan to upgrade the fleet of government jets, which was included in a broader defense-funding bill, has also sparked criticism from the Pentagon, which has said it didn't need half that many new jets.

But that didn't stop a House appropriations subcommittee and its chairman, John MurthaJohn Murtha (D-Pa.), from slipping $550 million for them into the defense budget.

The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes as members of both chambers of Congress embark on the busiest month of the year for official overseas travel.

Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials.

House Minority Leader John BoehnerJohn Boehner opposed the jet purchase. Several other senators said they shared the concerns and would work to halt the funding for the jets when the legislation is taken up by the Senate in September, including Sens. John McCainJohn McCain (R., Ariz.,) Jack ReedJack Reed (D., R.I.), Richard BurrRichard Burr (R., N.C.), Christopher Bond (R., Mo.) and John ThuneJohn Thune (R., S.D.).

"The whole thing kind of makes me sick to my stomach," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) in an interview Sunday. "It is evidence that some of the cynicism about Washington is well placed -- that people get out of touch and they spend money like it's Monopoly money."

The funding for new planes is "a classic example of Congress being out of touch with the realities of deficit spending," said Mr. Thune.

The Obama administration had sought $220 million to buy four passenger jets, including two that are currently being leased by the Air Force, to replace a fleet of older planes. Before leaving town for the August break, House lawmakers doubled the aircraft order to eight, at a total cost of $550 million.

It was only after word leaked out that Murtha saw the error of his ways. Now the House will seek to buy only the four planes the Pentagon wants. Congress will just have to make do.