The scam: load the Defense budget with tons of lard and protest the size of the military budget.

Congress’ defense bill is littered with nonsense

WASHINGTON — Just in time for Christmas, a massive $577 billion defense-authorization bill headed for a vote in the Senate next week is packed with goodies that have nothing to do with national security.

One provision pushes forward a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC — long advocated by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan).

Also tucked in the bill are pet projects that would establish a Harriet Tubman national historic park in Auburn, NY, and study the creation of federal historic sites in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

In all, more than a quarter of the 1,648-page defense bill is dedicated to federal land-use projects, angering some conservatives upset that a critical defense bill is slathered with pork projects.

Sen. Tom Coburn ­(R-Okla.) tweeted that Congress was sneaking through “hundreds of millions worth of pork into unrelated Defense bill via backroom deals.”

He used the hashtag #SecretSanta to drive home the point.

The House passed the bill Thursday with a 300-119 vote.

Armed Services Committee leaders in Congress hatched a deal to include a federal-lands package that was being developed by separate natural- ­resources committees.

New York lawmakers, including Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, insisted if a rider was to be attached that the Empire State was well-represented.

Gillibrand considered the New York provisions “worthy projects,” said spokesman Glen Caplin.

The defense bill adds on several projects that already passed the House, but not in the Senate.

Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) led passage of legislation in the House for the $250,000 study of the John Bowne House and the Old Quaker Meetinghouse, but it didn’t gain traction in the Senate.

Separately, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) pushed through legislation for a $150,000 study to add the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument in Brooklyn to the national park system.

Another provision would establish two National Historical Park sites to honor Harriet Tubman, one in Auburn and another in Maryland. The cost is estimated at $12 million over five years.

In May, Maloney ushered through bipartisan legislation in the House, by a 383-33 vote, to study the formation of a privately-funded women’s history museum, but it didn’t move in the Senate.

Now, with it riding on the must-pass defense bill, Maloney said Friday she’s “hopeful” the museum “will soon become law.”