Local defense firms have friends in D.C. (FEENEY!)

[nashville_brook]

http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/moneystoryB1212DEFENSE.htm

Weldon, Feeney help Brevard grab a share of defense pie

BY BRIAN MONROE
FLORIDA TODAY

Each year, there is a tug of war involving the president, the Department of Defense and Congress to see what taxpayer dollars go to which government programs in a usually tight, always finite budget.

Josh Ellis with AirNet Communications in Melbourne works around a Rapid Cell Base Station with multi band. Image by Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY
Some government programs get cut or canceled, forcing the companies working on those contracts to lobby policymakers to reconsider, or the companies have to adjust to lower-than-expected revenues.

Still, each new budget year also means opportunities for smaller companies to snare funding with technology they say could revolutionize warfare.

The trick: being persuasive enough and bringing enough political pressure to get a company's voice heard. That's where congressional representatives like U.S. Reps. Dave Weldon, R-Melbourne, and Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, enter the fray.

<snip>

[nashville_brook]

1. lets see... how many degress of separation?

feeney uses a defense contractor to steal votes.

feeney uses political influence to reward defense contractors.

TWO! two degrees!

[Guns Aximbo]

2. Military Industrial Complex...

Is alive and well in the USA. We're on our way to another Cold War with Russia (supplied by the MIC). The last one ended and the MIC lost money. No need to buy nukes and Subs and Ships when you're the only super power on earth and your foes are still in the stone age.

[teryang]

3. We have a peak of Vietnam level cold war budget

But we only have half as many troops and ships. Where does all that money go?