\n<\/p>\n
The U.S. Army<\/span> announced last year that it had enough of a specific model of armored vehicle and that any more deliveries would be \u201cexcess.\u201d But even so, Congress found a way to keep funding alive for the vehicle \u2014 and executives at the company that produces the vehicle found a way to flood key members of Congress with campaign donations.<\/p>\n In the weeks after this year\u2019s appropriations bill passed, employees of AM General or its parent company donated tens of thousands to key appropriations committee members in both chambers, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.<\/p>\n Collins is separately facing scrutiny over a report from ProPublica that the FBI investigated an alleged pay-to-play scheme<\/a> involving a major donor, an ex-defense contractor. Collins\u2019 office denied that there was any kind of pay-to-play arrangement and said she fully cooperated with the FBI. There is no indication that AM General\u2019s donations were part of such a scheme, but the giving nonetheless demonstrates how Collins\u2019s campaign account has grown with help from employees at defense contractors doing business with the government.<\/p>\n Before the Army put the future of the vehicle in jeopardy, Collins was not a frequent beneficiary of contributions from the company\u2019s workers. She last received campaign funds from AM General or its parent company\u2019s employees more than a decade ago. But after the Army\u2019s \u201cexcess\u201d announcement last year, employees<\/a> and the company\u2019s PAC<\/a> donated over $58,000 to committees associated with Collins.<\/p>\n One observer of money in politics said that appropriators receiving money from government contractors is a long-standing problem.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment contractors today routinely try to leverage a broken campaign finance system to their advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cMembers of the appropriations committees in Congress are extremely powerful. These lawmakers can steer huge sums of money to private companies. Government contractors today routinely try to leverage a broken campaign finance system to their advantage,\u201d said Michael Beckel, money in politics reform director at Issue One.<\/p>\n The revival of the Army\u2019s order was supported by lawmakers in both parties, including the top Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. Collins\u2019s office said that in the Senate, decisions on the program were made not by her but by defense subcommittee chair Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and vice chair Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. McConnell did not receive donations from employees at AM General or its parent company this election cycle. Coons received $2,500 from its employee PAC.<\/p>\n \u201cSen. Collins was not involved in this decision.\u00a0The final decision was made by the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittees,\u201d said a Collins spokesperson, Phoebe Keller.<\/p>\n AM General\u2019s CEO, John Chadbourne, said in an email that the company does not comment on campaign donations, \u201call of which fully comply with FEC rules and regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cAM General\u2019s focus is on the Warfighter and providing the best light tactical vehicle capabilities to the Joint Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n AM General is most famous for producing the Humvee, the iconic military vehicle that trawled the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War. In 2023, the Army selected the company<\/a> to produce 20,000 units of a more heavily armored successor known as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. The company was ramping up its production line in Indiana when then-Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced<\/a> in May 2025 that he would cancel its order, saying the additional deliveries would result in an \u201cexcess.\u201d<\/p>\n Driscoll\u2019s announcement was part of a larger effort to \u201celiminate waste and obsolete programs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYesterday\u2019s weapons will not win tomorrow\u2019s wars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The military does not always have the last say on its contracts, however.<\/p>\n Congress has for decades swooped in<\/a> to save pricey programs with political appeal. Soon after the Army moved to kill the vehicle contract, Congress mobilized to save it.<\/p>\n AM General had backing from members of Congress in Indiana, thanks to the jobs on its production line there. It also found backing from legislators in states far from its home.<\/p>\n The House moved first: In June 2025, the House Appropriations Committee\u2019s subcommittee on defense proposed<\/a> spending hundreds of millions on the vehicle for the Army. By the time the final version of the defense spending bill passed this February, the Army had been provided with $345 million for procurement of a vehicle it said it did not need.<\/p>\n A joint statement from the House and Senate, which Collins\u2019 office said was produced by the defense subcommittees, sounded a skeptical note about the Army\u2019s decision to cancel further orders of the vehicle. The statement said that the Army had provided \u201cinadequate supporting analysis.\u201d One concern was that without the efficiencies from a larger order that included the Army, the cost-per-unit price of vehicles that the Marines still wanted would rise.<\/p>\n McCollum, the House Democrat with an influential role in the process, said in a statement that she was one of numerous members of Congress to question the Army\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cAppropriators felt the Army failed to do adequate due diligence to justify their rash budget decision to cut the JLTV program and explain the full impacts on the Army, and especially the Marine Corps, which had not been consulted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n By the time the final version of the defense spending bill passed this February, the Army had been provided with $345 million for procurement of a vehicle it said it did not need.<\/p>\n Collins\u2019s campaign committees had received some money after the Army announced that it wanted to cancel the project.<\/p>\n In the weeks after Congress passed the appropriations bill on February 3, Collins and one of her counterparts in the House, Rep. Ken Calvert, both received a burst of donations from AM General employees and the company\u2019s political action committee.<\/p>\n After the appropriations bill went through, donors associated with AM General gave a total of $50,000 to Collins\u2019s fundraising committees.<\/p>\n The donors included Chadbourne, the company\u2019s CEO, and two of KPS Capital\u2019s managing partners. (Private equity firm KPS Capital Partners acquired AM General in 2020.) All gave money to a committee raising money on Collins\u2019s behalf at the end of February or start of March.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Calvert, the California representative with the defense appropriations post, has also benefited from similar donations. Both AM General employees and KPS Capital employees have given<\/a> $14,285 in direct contributions to Calvert for Congress this election cycle.<\/p>\n The AM General employee PAC has given<\/a> a combined $20,000 to Ken Calvert for Congress and Eureka Political Action Committee, Calvert\u2019s leadership PAC.<\/p>\n Most of the donations to Calvert associated with AM General came in the weeks immediately after Congress passed the appropriations bill. His office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Those contributions put Collins and Calvert in the same league as the Hoosier politicians who were natural supporters of AM General. A fundraising committee associated with Republican Sen. Todd Young received $36,000 from AM General or KPS Capital employees. The AM General employee PAC donated another $10,000 to his main campaign committee. A Marine Corps veteran, Young has been a vocal proponent<\/a> of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.<\/p>\n His Republican colleague Sen. Jim Banks\u2019s leadership PAC received $14,375 total from AM General\u2019s employee PAC<\/a> and Chadbourne<\/a>, the executive. Meanwhile, Rep. Frank Mrvan, a Democrat representing northwest Indiana, received $33,050<\/a> from AM General or KPS Capital employees, and another $10,000<\/a> from the AM General employee PAC, according to FEC filings.<\/p>\n\n
Congress Steps In<\/h2>\n