While the green-faced man was facing some trouble, Lynch was having dinner with a senator from the Federation.
The place they chose was very special. There was only one table in the empty restaurant, and there were three people at the table.
Outside the window was the night view of Boone, and the whole city was in full view.
The lights, the night view, and the starry sky blended perfectly into one.
The price of every meal in this private restaurant at the top of the mountain was enough to give a family head a heart attack.
Other than Lynch and Mr. Trumann, there was only one senator left, and this senator was also a member of the Military Appropriations Committee.
There were many committees in the Federation Congress, and among the committees belonging to the Senate, the "Military Appropriations Committee" was one of the more famous ones.
The main job of the Military Appropriations Committee was to review the various budgets submitted by the Ministry of Defense and the military every year, and then select some to be appropriated and some to be rejected. Generally speaking, if the Ministry of Defense and the military wanted money, they had to convince the majority of the committee members.
The water was very deep, but the real taxpayers of the Federation did not know that every year, about two to five percent of the appropriations approved by the Military Appropriations Committee would be distributed to each committee member in various ways.
For example, a committee member would only accept lobbying from a special lobbying group, and the main members of this lobbying group were his relatives or even his son.
To convince him, they had to hire this lobbying group. Hiring them would cost money, and the amount of money would depend on how much the Ministry of Defense and the military wanted to pass the budget.
This was what people thought was a shady operation, but it was so simple, so blatantly exposed under the sun that people turned a blind eye to it.
People who knew about it would not say it out loud, and people who did not know would never understand that most of the time, the reason why the members of Congress refused to allocate funds was that the amount given was too little. This was actually just a joke. Everyone knew that the members of Congress worked day and night for the Federation, but they were not like that.
In any case, being a member of the Military Appropriations Committee was a very important position. At the same time, it also involved some of the major military groups in the Federation. If they wanted to sell their weapons to the Federation, they had to first have their products listed in the armaments list, and then get approval from the Military Appropriations Committee.
In the process, they would use all means to convince everyone. This was a big business!
In short, every committee member who dedicated their lives to the country and the people had a hard time.
As for why they were rich, that was another matter altogether.
Just like now, the senator sitting opposite Lynch was wearing clothes that were worth 50,000 dollars. After all, this was Thor of the Federation, not the worthless Galil.
According to the Federation's' Minimum Wage Law ', an ordinary worker who wasn't involved in any technical work would earn at least 241 RMB a month, which was more than 10 RMB more than before.
Their salary was close to three thousand dollars a year, and they would have to give up eating and living for about eighteen years before they could afford to buy the senator's outfit.
What was even more infuriating was that this outfit was only one of the dozens of outfits the senator had in his house. He could make someone starve for ten or twenty years at any time.
As expected, for the freedom of the Federation and the equality of the citizens, these sacrifices were all worth it.
"I've heard of this project. The military committee has approved it, but some of us don't think it's suitable to launch it now."
While enjoying this expensive dinner, the senator talked about what they were talking about.
The project he was talking about was a project submitted by the Navy. In the naval battle against Gefra, the Navy found a lot of problems. For example, the military quality of the sailors was generally low, and there were some flaws in the design of some capital ships …
There were a lot of such examples. After finding the problems, they would find the most critical ones and apply for military funds to modify them.
But some projects weren't so easy to pass. These committee members wouldn't give the green light for money every time. Occasionally, they would have some persistence.
For example, they wouldn't approve some projects that were obviously to cheat military funds. The reason why they had such a bottom line was that they didn't want to give their political opponents an excuse to attack them.
They were discussing the research and development plan of the aircraft.
In terms of extreme visual range and over-the-horizon targeting, the Federation Navy still had a lot of room for improvement.
The Federation Navy believed that this gap couldn't be made up by acting and training in a short period of time. This kind of combat ability in a variety of complex battlefield situations relied more on various kinds of experience than pure rote memorization. Of course, the latter was also very important.
So, was there any way to make up for this obvious shortcoming?
Of course, there was, and that was to turn extreme visual range and over-the-horizon into visual range. For example, rapid ascension to observe hot air balloons was one way, but it wasn't high enough, and there were too many restrictions.
They turned their attention back to aircraft. Some of the more mature civilian aircraft were initially equipped with the ability to perform free aerial observation on the battlefield.
Therefore, a project called "maritime reconnaissance ship" appeared in the military committee and was approved. Simply put, it was to build an engineering ship that didn't have strong attack power. It was to provide a runway for aircraft to take off and land.
It was cheap to build, fast, and easy to repair. If it didn't work, it could just float on the water.
In the event of a war, the aircraft could use the airborne radio to send back reconnaissance and provide coordinate correction for over-the-horizon artillery.
But the Military Appropriations Committee thought this was a joke. Aircraft often crashed when landing on flat ground. Now, they wanted to put the aircraft on a bumpy ship. Whoever came up with this idea must have a screw loose.
They thought it was ridiculous. Aircraft technology was not mature enough, and it was far from being used by the military. This project was likely to be an abuse of power for personal gain.
This kind of thing was often done by the military. In the past, when escapism was prevalent, the military seemed to be suffering from paranoia. They submitted many projects, and most of them were approved because of the political environment.
For example, the establishment of a southern defense line to prevent some invaders from landing in the south.
These projects wasted a lot of money, and in the end, they didn't even have to use a fart. Every year, a large sum of money was spent on maintenance. Many groups had already accused the Military Appropriations Committee of abusing its power and colluding with the military for personal gain.
At this stage, it was best not to approve any projects that seemed unreliable. After all, the election was coming, and any small matter could be magnified.
The Conservative Party had completely given up on the presidential election, but this didn't mean that they would give up their seats in Congress.
Lynch was not disappointed by the senator's direct rejection. "Valuable things should not be rejected. I firmly believe that aircraft will dominate the battlefield in the future."
The senator smiled and didn't continue. He had heard too many similar words. This one could dominate the battlefield, and that one could dominate the battlefield. A few simple words wouldn't persuade him at all.
Lynch came here today not only to represent himself and Trumann, but also to gain the friendship of the military. The military was very upset that this project was blocked, and Lynch took the initiative to lobby for it.
He only needed to persuade a few key people to push for changes in the entire Military Appropriations Committee, and the senator in front of him was one of them.
He elegantly handled the dishes on his plate and said casually, "Speaking of which, you may not know, I used 15 million to establish an aircraft research company..."
The senator smiled reservedly. "That has nothing to do with me, Lynch."
He was firm in his stance, and he even hinted a little. "If you really want to talk about this project, I suggest that we wait until after the election. At that time, Congress will be a little more peaceful. Some people are very active now."
Lynch continued, "Your son will be one of the shareholders of this company."
The senator froze for a moment, then he frowned. "You shouldn't do that..."
Lynch put the food in his mouth and took a bite. The fresh juice squeezed out from the fiber of the meat. Some people said that it was some kind of myoglobin, but he felt that it was his mother's blood, cow's blood.
He chewed, occasionally revealing a touch of pink on his pearly white teeth. He put down his knife and fork and looked at the senator. "You may not know much about your son, but he has a unique talent in aircraft design (even God is jealous of him). In order to show my respect for his knowledge, I'm willing to exchange 5% of my shares for this design."
The senator, who was still a little angry, paused for a very brief moment. The displeasure on his face disappeared in an instant, and it was replaced by self-blame.
"You know, I've been very busy. I'm either in the office or in the study every day, so I've neglected some of my family's feelings. I didn't realize that he was so talented in this area..."
"I respect their choice, but I won't make it easier for you just because my family is involved in this matter. That's not my style of doing things."
Lynch nodded slightly. "I understand. I'm only saying this because I don't want any accidents to happen in the future. You know, timely communication is the only way to ensure that there are no misunderstandings between us."
The senator put his hands on the table and nodded a few times, as if he had come to a decision. "I'm sorry, I can't help you on this matter."
"By the way, what's the name of the project you just mentioned?"