Your tax money: Congress spending money on tanks the Army says they don't want

Congress wants to spend $436 million to update the tank and it’s systems but the Army is saying no thanks.

Proof came when Army chief of staff General Ray Odierno told the AP “if we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way."

That wasn’t the only person to speak out on the matter.

The deputy director of the Army budget office is Davis Welch, he added “the Army is on record saying we do not require any additional M1A2s."

The army says they don’t need any new tanks until at least 2017 but Congress insists they buy earlier models with upgrades like better microprocessors and color flat panel displays.

The cost of those improvements? Around $7.5 million each.

That hasn’t slowed down Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.

Both men are pushing to spend the money and say national defense is the reason. Others claim they have other reasons. The only tank plant in the nation is in Lima, Ohio.

Sean Kennedy is the director of research for the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste. He says listening to the men in uniform might be the best idea.

“When an institution as risk averse as the Defense Department says they have enough tanks, we can probably believe them."

More here.