Because really, what better way to spend $200 million during a massive recession with a trillion-dollar deficit than on luxurious private jets for people already making at least $174,000 per year? It’s the least we schlubs can do to honor the hard work and sacrifice of the Animal Farm pigs members of Congress.

Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies.

But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel: At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress.

The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65 million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service.

But the House Appropriations Committee, at its own initiative, added to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill another $132 million for two more airplanes and specified that they be assigned to the D.C.-area units that carry Members of Congress, military brass and top government officials.

Okay, so the military needs to cut its budget on items such as fighter jets and Future Combat Systems, but Congress can spend another $200 million to fly its lazy-ass members around the country. We can’t afford a strong national defense, but we can scrape together enough money to ferry Nancy Pelosi’s ugly ass around in style.

I eagerly await the outrage that followed the revelation that the auto company CEOs had arrived in Washington on private jets. After all, Congress has wasted more money in the past few weeks than Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors have likely spent since their respective inceptions.