The upgraded A-D (22.5K per side thrust, VG intakes, two d nozzles, electronics....
That sounds like a very impressive proposal, FOG. When was the configuration defined? It's hard to see how the weight of 2D nozzles and inlets, and presumably heavier engines (unless they achieved some ungodly high T/W) would have affected an airplane that already had bring-back issues. More detail on timing, project number &c would be welcome.
It's a bit of a puzzle since in my experience the Marines' aviation thinkers were focused on ASTOVL, which begat CALF, which begat JAST, which begat JSF very early on, before even the various Advanced Hornet proposals that led to E/F saw the light of day. Pray enlighten us.
I'm also intrigued by your comment on budgets.
AFAIK the only PB/NDAA does not have a line item anywhere for "Marine Aviation", procurement, O&S and R&D being handled through the relevant DoN P-1, O-1 and R-1 books and the detail thereof. F-35C and F-35B are adjacent to one another in all the DoN budget docs.