Democrats Want Pentagon out of NASCAR

Minnesota Democrat McCollum wants to cuts military sponsorship of stock-car racing.

(By Jim O'Sullivan and Ben Terris, NationalJournal.com) - The Pentagon has had a decade-long business partnership with the NASCAR stock-car racing circuit that has been a boon to the sport. But amid the House's Republican-led frenzy to cut federal spending, some Democrats have made it a target, backing an amendment to the fiscal 2011 continuing resolution that would prohibit any of its funds going toward military sponsorships of stock cars.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., wants to pull funding for the Defense Department’s motorsports marketing enterprise, despite longstanding NASCAR ties with the U.S. military and the large overlap between states where the sport is popular and those that have high populations of service personnel.

It is also a clear indication that Democrats think that the NASCAR voting bloc is not voting with them now or anytime in the future.

“It’s just a waste of money,” McCollum chief of staff Bill Harper told 'National Journal' on Tuesday. “A complete waste of taxpayer money. The military shouldn’t be in the business of sponsoring race cars, they should be in the business of fighting wars.”