New U.S. Spending Bill Re-Bans Military Charges at Strip Clubs

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Both houses of Congress have to pass yet another stopgap spending bill by midnight Friday in order to avoid another government shutdown, so the House Republican brain trust managed to pass a 2,232-page spending bill earlier today which it also just released for public inspection. That gives the Senate less than 48 hours to digest the whole thing and either pass it as-is or pass a bill with changes that will have to be reconciled with the House version—again, in less than 48 hours. If passed intact, the bill would keep the government running until early September. But one item that caught the attention of Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe, possibly because he's been covering the issue since 2015, was the section of the bill which states that no federal money "may be used for Government Travel Charge Card expenses by military or civilian personnel of the Department of Defense for gaming, or for entertainment that includes topless or nude entertainers or participants." By now, everyone who watches movies or TV is familiar with the scene of a bunch of army (or navy or air force or marine) buddies partying down in a bar which may or may not offer strippers for their pleasure, but thanks to a report issued by the Defense Department Inspector General in 2015, we now know roughly how much was spent on the government's dime at such establishments: 67 "adult transactions" by the Marine Corps, 107 by the Navy, 347 by the Air Force—and a whopping 365 by the Army. All told, $96,576 was spent by all defense agencies on adult entertainment in 2014, the year covered by the report, and another $952,258 was charged by them at casinos. The report found that "an enlisted sailor with Naval Special Warfare Group made 12 transactions on a government credit card totaling $1,116 at adult entertainment establishments while traveling on a 17-day business trip to El Paso, Tex." "While in in El Paso, the cardholder spent more than six times his total [allotted money for expenses], which included Dreams Cabaret, Jaguars Gold Club, Tequila Sunrise, and Red Parrot Gentlemen’s Club," the report said. It also caught a senior airman dropping $4,686 at Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club on his government-issued card—and that got him busted down to airman first class. And while the use of government credit cards has already been prohibited by military regulations, that didn't stop some charge-minded Defense employees and contractors—leading to yet another Inspector General report in 2016 which found that the four service branches charged more than $13,500 to government "travel cards" for adult entertainment, and another whopping $85,000+ at casinos. The report also found that commanders' reactions to this theft was virtually non-existent—a fact that the regulations in the new budget bill are meant to correct. But wait: There's also some good news about the budget bill. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the budget bill as it currently stands contains an amendment that will prevent the Justice Department from spending any funds to target or otherwise interfere with medical cannabis programs, and should stop federal prosecutors from going after patients and dispensaries which are in compliance with state cannabis laws. However, those protections will only continue until September 30, when they'd have to be renewed again.