Key Vote Alert – “YES” on Sanford Amdt to H.R. 5293

KEY VOTE ALERT

“YES” on Sanford Amdt to HR 5293

The Club for Growth urges all House members to support the Sanford amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2017 (H.R. 5293).  A vote on this amendment is expected later this week.  This vote will be included in the Club for Growth’s 2016 Congressional Scorecard.

Rep. Sanford’s bipartisan amendment would bar funds for a de facto earmark benefitting the shoe company, New Balance.  Under current law, troops can be given a cash allowance to purchase apparel, including shoes.  The earmark would disallow this – just for footwear – forcing  the Pentagon to provide shoes directly to military personnel.  As such, current law also requires that any direct-purchase items be 100% American-made.  In the near term, this would exclusively benefit New Balance as the sole provider of footwear.

Also, it shouldn’t be overlooked that, according to the Boston Globe, New Balance said the White House promised to consider the shoe maker for a similar Defense contract if the company would stop bad-mouthing Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.  The merits of the trade deal notwithstanding, this type of cronyism is horrendous, and this de facto earmark should be vigorously rejected.

Our Congressional Scorecard for the 114th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.