The Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program was designed to destroy enemy missiles mid-air, from both land and sea. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman built a technology center in Johnstown to assist in KEI's development. A dozen local residents were hired, and the company said it had hopes to grow the work force to 150 people.

However, the program came to a close in the spring when Defense Secretary Robert Gates cut funding. He defended the cut, saying KEI was technically troubled, over budget and behind schedule.

A non-partisan watchdog group applauded the move.

"The Pentagon got rid of three programs in Missile Defense Agency that were radically underperforming," said Laura Peterson of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "They really plucked some of the lowest hanging fruit."

The story doesn't end there.

During budget negotiations on Capitol Hill, $80 million was put back into the defense budget to fund the embattled program. Taxpayers for Common Sense suspect Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn) helped make that happen, much to the detriment of taxpayers nationwide.

"You are taking money away from other military needs," Peterson said. "And you're taking taxpayers' money away from projects that could be creating jobs in other states.... This is not all about Johnstown."

The move didn't go over well with fellow lawmakers, and on Thursday, Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass) proposed an amendment to strip funding from the KEI program.

"Here you have the missile defense agency's director itself saying the program should be terminated," Tierney said from the House floor. "It would be of limited or no use against Iran or Russia or the Chinese missile capability. This is why this is not a productive way to proceed on this matter."

Murtha defended the funding by saying taxpayers should get something out of the money already invested in the program, and that's what the extra money would do.

"The program's already spent a billion dollars, and we better get something out of it," Murtha said.

Critics like Peterson responded by saying, "You can't get that money back. There's no point in throwing that money at an infertile chicken and hope it eventually lays an egg."

In the end, the push to pull KEI's funding failed. The program, however, could still be quashed during negotiations with the Senate.

As for the dozen local residents currently employed by Northrop Grumman, they are staying put.

Company spokesman Randy Belote told WJAC they have been working on different projects since the program was cut a few months ago. He adds that even if funding for KEI had been cut, the employees would have been spared. Belote adds that the only difference now is that more employees won't be hired.