House Defense Champion Rep. Bill Young to Retire

Rep. Bill Young, the Florida Republican from Tampa and longtime friend of defense spending, will not seek re-election next year, ending a congressional career dating to 1970.

“It’s my time,” Young said, according to a press release issued by his office.

The Tampa Tribune broke the news, saying of the 82-year old, “Young seemed increasingly out of step with the changing climate of Washington.”

Young is a former chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee, controlling the purse strings of the entire federal government. But he is perhaps best known for turning Tampa into a hub of defense contracting. In 2007, the Tribune listed the extensive political pork Young brought to the state -- $116 million in the defense spending bill alone. In 2010, the Center for Public Integrity said that number rose to $140 million, highlighting Young’s pork prowess as well as the coziness of his staffers to the industry they were charged to fund and oversee.

From his office’s perspective, Young was a proud job-creating machine for his home district. “The defense programs Congressman Young has brought to Pinellas County have created thousands of new jobs here, and have helped create a world-class research and technology sector in the Tampa Bay area.”

Last year, Young voiced his opposition to the ongoing war in Afghanistan.