In article ,
says...

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1102/08liberty/

It's a last-ditch effort by incumbents to remain viable after being
undercut by SpaceX's Falcon 9 / Dragon. They'll use their political
connections, just like they did with Ares V-Lite, by bribing lawmakers
into drawing up legislation which virtually names their company and
product in the law, leaving NASA no room to use the cheaper SpaceX
alternatives or rockets from any other manufacturer for that matter.

Obviously this Liberty rocket (purposefully named such as to instill
patriotic emotions) would be another mulch-billion turkey, but no one
in Washington cares. The corrupt lawmakers need the money to fund their
campaigns. It's just pathetic what the U.S. has turned into.

Yea, I love the name. I'm sure that their marketing guys were keenly
aware that using an ESA produced upper stage would cause a political
stink, so they're trying to mask that stink with an air freshener (the
Liberty name). Too bad it won't work. It'll still stink to high
heaven.

Since this latest proposal does a complete end-run-around US producers
of liquid fueled upper stages and liquid fueled rocket engines, I don't
expect them to stay silent. They would be the big losers if Liberty
sees the light of day. I'd expect their lobbyists will have a few
choice words for the same Congressmen and Senators that ATK's lobbyists
will be visiting.

Jeff
--
" Solids are a branch of fireworks, not rocketry. :-) :-) ", Henry
Spencer 1/28/2011