Chris Smith: “Mr. Chairman, if you thought taxpayers were outraged and dismayed over the revelation that the Pentagon was shelling out…”

“Mr. Chairman, if you thought taxpayers were outraged and dismayed over the revelation that the Pentagon was shelling out $500 for hammers and $600 for toilet seats, wait until they learn that Uncle Sam is now subsidizing big corporate mergers and acquisitions, which by design, are intended to throw thousands of people out of work. That's right, American taxpayers are footing the bill to merge, downsize, and fire people. This is corporate welfare at it worst. Wait until the public discovers, Mr. Chairman, that thousands of hard-working Americans who have or recently had high paying defense industry jobs, got pink slips not necessarily because of fewer purchase orders, but because the Clinton administration's cynical policy of providing huge subsidies for corporate mergers. In July 1994, the GAO's first and only available report on just one subsidy approved for payment makes clear a connection between payoffs and layoffs: "The contractor's proposed savings were based entirely on workforce reductions." (GAO/NSIAD-96-80)”