As described in POGO’s letter, Admiral Richardson directly appealed to attendees of the 2014 Annual Symposium Naval Submarine League to contact their Members of Congress to support the Ohio class submarine and the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund as part of his “Commander’s Guidance.” Rear Admiral Tofalo echoed him and offered the support of his office.

“Admiral Richardson talked about commander’s guidance and getting the message out. He challenged all of you to go out and interact with folks, whether it’s calling on your own Congressmen, or if you belong to some organization from the Chamber of Commerce to the Rotary Club. I am committed to help you do that,” said Tofalo.

“If anybody needs help in strategic messaging, then you call ‘1–800-N97’ and let us know. Commander Martin Sprague, would you stand up? Go slip him your business card on a break, and if you need trifolds, priorities briefs, talking points for your Congressman, we are more than happy to support you.”

These remarks were also later printed in The Submarine Review, which is widely available online.

The Navy officials may have felt the need to increase support because appropriators historically rejected the use of a separate fund as a budget gimmick. The House Appropriations committee included language again this year prohibiting the creation of the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund.

But one of the biggest budget fights on the House floor this week will be whether Congress will support a likely amendment from Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia to strike this language. POGO believes that the creation of a separate, off-budget fund for this program is irresponsible.

Allowing the Navy to fund this program separately reduces discipline in the program and increases the likelihood of gross cost overruns. Moreover, it creates a bad precedent that any unaffordable weapons program should receive its own separate budget, a budgeting trick that would likely be repeated to fund the Air Force’s bomber program.

As our friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense have repeatedly pointed out, every weapons program is national asset, but just as the bomber should be paid for out of the Air Force’s budget, this program should be paid for out of the Navy’s budget.

As Politico reports, the Navy is currently reviewing whether these lobbying restrictions were violated, but POGO also hopes that the GAO will independently examine whether the Navy improperly engaged in grassroots lobbying to pressure Congress to support this budget shell game.

Mandy Smithberger is the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight, where this article originally appeared.