Yes Maus I understand it. The services all have wish lists, my pessimistic side thinks the "crosstalk" is much more involved and uglier than we would like to think. The service is put in a pickle- they don't want to say no to powerfull congressional input, especially when they know there is huge congressional support for something.
The real bad deal is when congress funds stuff to keep production going of something the service does not really want or fund the manufacturing but not fund the billets, fuel, spares and mission equipment to keep the items going.