View Full Version : Funding for F-22 Deleted by Senate
Bowing to Veto Threat, Senate Blocks Money for Warplanes
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/business/22defense.html?_r=1&hp)
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 58-40 on Tuesday to strip $1.75 billion for seven more F-22 fighters from a military authorization bill, handing President Obama a crucial victory in his efforts to reshape the military’s priorities.
The victory came after the president had placed his political capital on the line by repeatedly threatening to veto the $679.8 billion bill if it included any money for the planes.
The F-22, the world’s most advanced fighter, had become a flashpoint in a larger battle over the administration’s push to shift more of the Pentagon’s resources from conventional warfare to fighting insurgencies.
The plane’s supporters, who ranged from hawkish Republicans to Democrats close to organized labor, also voiced concern over the possible loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs at a time when the economy was in turmoil.
Immediately after the vote, Mr. Obama praised the Senate’s decision, saying that any money spent on the fighter was an “inexcusable waste.”...........
Lima Juliet
21st Jul 2009, 20:22
Looks like we're following suit...
Brown agrees to axe Typhoon in RAF reshape
If you can't get the hyperlink to work - keep trying!
LJ
(Oh, I wish it was April First...:E)
Mactlsm1
22nd Jul 2009, 01:09
So they have voted to reduce the overall buy by 7 frames ($1.75B) BUT they HAVE NOT voted to reduce their overall Defence Spending by the same amount, but have decided to re-allocate it to where it MAY be needed more urgently - UNLIKE HM Govt (Brown) if the last link/post is to be believed.
BTW the F-22 line may be reducing but the F-35 work incoming to Marietta and the probable increase in the C-130 Prod Line may offset any job losses.
Makes perfect sense to me................
Mac
Fear The Reaper
22nd Jul 2009, 19:28
UNLIKE HM Govt (Brown) if the last link/post is to be believed.
Looks like you caught one LJ - well done!
Defense News: F-22 Gets Through House Committee, May Face Obstacle On Floor (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4200849&c=AME&s=TOP)
A day after the U.S. Senate voted to halt production of F-22 stealth fighters, the House Appropriations Committee signaled it is likely to go along.
The committee voted July 22 to spend $369 million to buy another dozen F-22s, but Rep. David Obey, the committee chairman, said that has to change.
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In light of the Senate vote and a threat from the White House to veto any bill that contains money for new F-22s, Obey said House appropriators must "recognize that conditions have changed" on the F-22.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said he tried to draft an amendment "to adjust for the F-22," but he "couldn't get it together fast enough" for the Appropriations Committee's 9 a.m. markup and vote.
An aide said Murtha now plans to offer an amendment that would spend the $369 million on spare parts and engines for existing F-22s rather than on new ones, an aide said. The amendment would be proposed when the full House takes up the defense spending bill, probably July 30.
Obey said he was "dubious about moving forward" with F-22 funding still in the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill, and he called for "an attitude adjustment on both sides" of the F-22 issue......
West Coast
23rd Jul 2009, 21:38
A bargaining chip now for something Obama really wants.
Whatever that might be.
I doubt he would veto any type of universal health coverge bill (or one of similar consequence) with an itsy bitsy little billion dollar F22 rider attached.
A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon...
MarkD
30th Jul 2009, 00:35
WC -
"universal health coverge bill ... with an ... F22 rider attached."
Do your fellow countrymen ever reflect on the notion of addressing one topic per bill - or if not even vaguely related ones? It is very confusing to us foreign types, and perhaps to one or two Americans too!
Mactlsm1
30th Jul 2009, 01:24
If you think that British Politics is bad................they are rank amatuers when compared to the US political scene. So much is traded and hidden as West Coast and Mark D say. What does Obama really want - well he doesn't know because the teleprompter broke......
Mac
Graybeard
30th Jul 2009, 15:45
There are over 41,000 lobbyists in Washington DC, and a lot of them with very high budgets. It's not hard to figure what happens. Follow the money.
A million dollars a day is being spent fighting healthcare reform. CONgress critters work very hard - scouring up funds for re-election, which take more than $10 Million for a Senate seat. We have the best govt money can buy.
Funding the F-22 is all about money, not Defense.
GB
House Reverses Itself, Votes To Kill F-22 Buy (http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4214557&c=AME&s=AIR)
Just four weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming margin to begin buying a dozen more F-22s, the representatives reversed themselves July 30 and approved a defense appropriations bill that would end the stealth-fighter program.
Why the difference? President Barack Obama, the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin........