Dear Representative,

On behalf of our organizations and our combined memberships, we urge your support for a fiscally-sound, bi-partisan amendment by Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA) during the debate on the Fiscal Year 2016 Defense Appropriations bill.

The Huffman/McClintock amendment would end a decades-long program to ship a particular grade of coal from northeastern Pennsylvania to heat several U.S. military bases in Germany. This program began, on a much larger scale, in 1961. But although its scope has narrowed over the years, the requirement still exists in Section 8053 of the bill, 54 years later.

It’s the last remnant of a subsidy that at its peak required the Department of Defense to buy 500,000 tons of anthracite coal a year. And while we’re down to shipping “just” 9,000 tons of coal 4,000 miles to the middle of Germany, the provision costs taxpayers $20 million a year and ensures the U.S. military cannot upgrade the heating systems at those facilities if it means they will not burn coal. You can read more about the history of the program in this recent article in The Fiscal Times.

We believe a vote for the Huffman/McClintock amendment is a vote for fiscally conservative values and against the continuation of another outdated government subsidy.

Sincerely,

Coalition to Reduce Spending
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
National Taxpayers Union
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Taxpayers Protection Alliance

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