Senator Shelby (R-Ala): Show Me the Money

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., had blocked more than 80 presidential nominations now before the Senate, but tonight he relented, saying he had simply been trying "to get the White House's attention" on two important national security issues related to his state. Johnathan Karl and Kristina Wong. ABC News.

It seems Sen Shelby wanted to throw some $40B in taxpayer funds to businesses in his home state.

Shelby is literally trying to undermine the federal government’s ability to do business effectively and have responsible, politically accountable leadership, in order to lobby on behalf of a foreign corporation, against an American corporation.

The Shelby affair has yet more layers of stunning hubris: the $40 billion project he is demanding action for is actually related to a bidding process in which a joint venture between Northrop Grumman and EADS —the European parent of Airbus— is competing against Boeing for a contract to build a new aerial refueling tanker. The Northrop/EADS venture plans to build the tanker in Mobile, Alabama, if it wins, but is threatening to withdraw its bid altogether unless the Air Force makes the conditions of bidding more favorable to its needs. Truth-First.com

Sen Shelby, like many of his fellow conservative legislators, decry wasteful federal spending at every opportunity. It would appear that Shelby has no reservations with spending billions on a project that benefits a foreign company that donated bags of money to Shelby's political slush fund. What a hypocrite.