Pentagon’s NASCAR Sponsorship Gets a Green Light: Congress Rejects Measure to Cut Funding for Ads on Race Cars
EmailABC News’ Karen Travers reports:
The battle over spending continues to rage on Capitol Hill and while Republicans are keen to take an axe to the budget, today one interesting item was spared: The Army’s sponsorship of NASCAR.
The Army spends more than $7 million a year to sponsor NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman and several million more as part of a partnership with NASCAR. It says the prominent ads on the car and presence at the track help attract recruits.
Today the House gave the green light for that sponsorship to continue, rejecting an amendment introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) that would have blocked the Pentagon from using taxpayer dollars for NASCAR ads.
The amendment failed by a largely partisan vote of 281-148, with Republicans overwhelmingly voting against the measure.
McCollum called the NASCAR sponsorship a waste of taxpayer money.
"Taxpayer-funded NASCAR race cars are an absurdity at a time when the Republican-Tea Party is cutting federal support for homeless veterans, law enforcement officers, and firefighters,” McCollum said in a statement when she introduced the amendment this week. “I know NASCAR fans are passionate and patriotic. This amendment gets the government out of NASCAR and gives them the opportunity to encourage the private sector to demonstrate its patriotism by donating a military sponsorship.”
Over the last decade each branch of the military has had a partnership with NASCAR. But now just the Army, Air Force and National Guard continue to sponsor teams – the Marines, Navy and Coast Guard dropped their own NASCAR sponsorships in recent years.
Perhaps the ads are working. Military recruitment is surging – the waiting lists to sign up are currently longer than they have been in recent years which could be a result of several factors: the still-struggling economy, high unemployment rate and the post-9/11 GI Bill, that pays for education and housing for family and service members who have served at least 90 days and were honorably discharged.
According to McCollum’s office, her fight will not end here.
The Minnesota Democrat intends to introduce legislation that would prohibit taxpayer money from being used to sponsor race cars, dragsters, Indy cars and motorcycle racing.
McCollum was not present to vote for her own amendment –she is traveling to the Middle East today to address a national security conference.
NASCAR driver Newman will race in this Sunday’s Daytona 500 in the Army-sponsored car.
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We have T.V. ads and billboards everywhere to recruit servicemen. We have offices open daily in low-income neighborhoods to recruit servicement. If the republicans are serious about ALL cuts, why not NASCAR!
Posted by: raven | February 18, 2011, 6:01 pm 6:01 pm
Where are the JOBS~~~~~
Posted by: raven | February 18, 2011, 6:01 pm 6:01 pm
And the Republicans call themselves the fiscally responsible party? Where is the Tea Party on this?
Posted by: threeriverscrossing | February 18, 2011, 10:31 pm 10:31 pm
Nascar Advertisements OK’d by GOP! Here’s more: These Republican “Wrongs” and the TEA party “Accomplices” are making every effort to undo the work of the 111st Congress. They know they’re not going to accomplish anything except further antagonize what is considered the “Center”. The last election was not any kind of “Mandate” as is trumpeted, but the frustrations of an electorate wanting radical changes and job generating legislation’s. Here’s more: This California Congress woman went beyond what any woman should have to go through. This type of decision is between God and the woman, and her husband, if possible, and no one else. Here in Texas Sonograms are forced onto women and should be paid for by Rick Perry, Governor of the state of Texas, or the “Wrongs” running the state house in Austin. If the Federal Government cannot force the American public to purchase health care insurance, then this Governor and henchmen cannot force women to purchase a sonogram just because they say so. Rick Perry and the Republican “Wrongs” are forcing their own religious beliefs onto women. Any bill generated from or for sonograms should be mailed immediately to their Austin headquarters for immediate payment.
Posted by: rudyg43 | February 18, 2011, 10:49 pm 10:49 pm
Idiot article and mostly idiotic leftist comments so far.
The Army recruits people. The Army has an advertising budget. They have determined best how to spend that advertising budget. They aren’t going to spend their ad money advertising at America hating places like DailyKOS, MSNBC, or Huffpo.
They’ll spend their advertising dollars at places where there is a higher proportion of true patriotic Americans. If the place where they decide there is a lot of patriotic Americans is at a Nascar track then that makes perfect sense.
Jeez…idiotic leftists.
Posted by: Jimbo | February 19, 2011, 10:34 am 10:34 am
JIMBO — they really don’t need a large advertising campaign b/c their recruitment is way up. As a patriotic American, I’d rather not see them cut veteran’s benefits. In these tough economic times, I think cutting for recruitment when recruitment is fine at the expense of our Veteran’s is UNPATRIOTIC!!! Why do you hate Veteran’s?
Posted by: JenMon | February 19, 2011, 6:19 pm 6:19 pm
.005% of our national debt is what we spend on this advertisement that helps us to recruit people to defend what freedoms we have. By not sponsoring this we can almost pay 1/2 of a percent of our interest on our debt. If we attack minute amounts of dollars while spending 563 billion dollars/3 years on people that don’t work, we will continue to grow in debt while we say we’ve made budget cuts in areas that don’t even help pay down our interest on our debt. Let’s keep our Country involved in a sport such as nascar. If you want to go after such advertisement, let us remember there are universities, cities, federal and state funded organizations that all do a fair amount of advertisement. Should we cut advertisements of state universities, should we cut ads for our city’s/state’s tourism. On top of all of this, Navy, USAF, Army universities, should they really be allowed to have athletic programs, the state is paying for the coaching staffs for all of that! All of this won’t add up to much more than a percent or two of our interest we pay each year. If you want to talk trillions of dollars of debt disappearing, stop talking about cutting fractions of a percent of spending. Does every penny count, damn straight. That means, don’t go after the small accounts until you obliterate the big ones. Big rocks, little rocks, sand.
Posted by: Jake | February 20, 2011, 12:34 am 12:34 am
Stop Nascar Subsidies, NOW!!!!
Posted by: tts | February 20, 2011, 8:24 pm 8:24 pm
Small grains of sand make up great beaches.
Posted by: nicole | February 21, 2011, 12:21 am 12:21 am
You’re right Jimbo, the army is being smart. With the cuts to education and programs like planned parenthood, in 18-20 years there will be plenty of unemployable, uneducated, and unwanted people who will need to join the army. They’re just thinking ahead, something most people have a problem doing for some reason.
Posted by: nicole | February 21, 2011, 12:27 am 12:27 am
@JAKE, the difference is that most university sports programs MAKE money for the school. Sponsoring a race car team is hardly in the same category.
If we need to recruit soldiers so badly, them maybe we should bring back the draft. But then everyone might have to pay the sacrifice of sending a family member off to a war that really will do nothing to protect our freedoms. Until the Republicans cut the Military budget along with everything else, then they are NOT serious about cleaning up the deficit.
Posted by: Margaret | February 21, 2011, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
I agree with Margaret.
Posted by: tripp | February 23, 2011, 8:28 am 8:28 am
haha, i like jimbo’s comment about the “idiotic leftists.” we spend our time watching the news, reading the newspaper, and reading political blogs, and you all spend your time watching cars go around in a circle, but we’re the idiots?
we spend our time getting information from those sources BECAUSE we’re patriotic! we want to know what’s going on and we want the best for our country instead of believing and then repeating everything fox news says without bothering to check its reliability.
Posted by: clop | February 23, 2011, 8:48 pm 8:48 pm
This makes me so happy. I am so glad they’re cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, NPR and laying off teachers. Now this. Now our war machine can more efficiently market towards white bros slamming Budweisers while sitting around watching a little spectacle I like to call, TRAFFIC. Makes total sense. I think I’m gonna go take a nap now.
Posted by: NADER666 | March 4, 2011, 6:01 pm 6:01 pm
What is wrong with you people? Why can’t they just mount machine guns on the Budweiser Clydesdale’s to recruit people? Why does it have to be NASCAR? Can’t they implement a wrestler who is dressed as a army recruiter and have him body slam people unwilling to go to war? HOO RAH SLAM!
Posted by: WEARASEATBELT | March 4, 2011, 6:08 pm 6:08 pm
“Posted by: rudyg43 | Feb 18, 2011 10:49:17 PM
Idiot article and mostly idiotic leftist comments so far.
The Army recruits people. The Army has an advertising budget. They have determined best how to spend that advertising budget. They aren’t going to spend their ad money advertising at America hating places like DailyKOS, MSNBC, or Huffpo.
They’ll spend their advertising dollars at places where there is a higher proportion of true patriotic Americans. If the place where they decide there is a lot of patriotic Americans is at a Nascar track then that makes perfect sense.
Jeez…idiotic leftists.”
I am dumber after reading that.
Posted by: NADER666 | March 4, 2011, 6:23 pm 6:23 pm
Gates and the Republican House majority want to take away benefits promised to military retirees, people who spent their lives defending the country, but keep a NASCAR moving advertisement that costs 7 million a year?
This isn’t insanity. It’s cruelty.
Republican-Tea Party: Leading the Way to a Brighter 1898.
Posted by: Rascals Veda | March 9, 2011, 1:03 pm 1:03 pm
You can complain all you want, but many of you voted for this–and when you did, you knew what they were going to do. People, get this through your brains right now: voting for Republicans only brings disaster. Repeat after me: Voting. For. Republicans. Only. Brings. Disaster.
Posted by: Veronica | March 14, 2011, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm