Stimulus Bill Includes Millions for Satellite Program

Here's a troubling one from Taxpayer's For Common Sense:

Spending on the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System, a program to generate weather and climate data, has doubled over the last 14 years to $12.5 billion -- even though none of the satellites have been launched.

The taxpayer group is highlighting the program as part of its oversight of the Obama administration's stimulus package. Here's what they had to say in a recent blog:

"Despite energetic lobbying by the defense industry (and some lawmakers) the $825 billion stimulus bill now emerging from committee markups seems free of handouts for Air Force jets and other military hardware. But DOD will benefit from hundreds of millions going to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for a fancy satellite program called the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/government-inc/2009/01/bad_satellite_image_costs_of_p.html?wprss=government-inc