In upcoming budget negotiations, both progressive and conservative lawmakers have vowed to look at waste and unneeded spending in the Department of Defense (DOD). A new report from the Inspector General of the DOD finds one possible case of startling waste.

The report finds that the Defense Department may have paid up to $100,000 to six different defense contractors who then proceeded to use the funds to lobby for earmarks. That means that the government was essentially paying corporations to lobby for more government money.

The Inspector General does not suspect that these payments were intentional, and recommendsAi??Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy issue new guidelines to avoid this improper spending in the future.

However this case illustrates the need for tighter oversight over the massive military budget, which makes up the largest share of the discretionary spending of the federal government.