W.H. says it would veto F-22 funds
The Obama administration made it clear Wednesday it will veto any defense authorization bill that includes money for additional F-22 Raptor fighter jets or that cuts money for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet program.
The House Armed Services Committee has approved a bill that includes more than $300 million as a down payment to buy 12 F-22s in 2010.
“If the final bill presented to the president contains this provision, the president’s senior advisers would recommend a veto,” the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a statement of administration policy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has proposed killing the F-22 program after this year.
OMB handed down a similar threat to the House bill’s provision calling for the development of an alternate engine on the Joint Strike Fighter program. In addition to reducing funding for the jet to help fund another engine, the bill limits the amount of money the Pentagon can spend on the program until it funds the second engine.
Pratt and Whitney won the contract to make the initial engine, but Congress has stepped in for the past several years to add money for a second one under development by General Electric and Rolls-Royce.
The full House was expected to begin consideration of the bill after voting on the Homeland Security appropriations, possibly this week. And the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday continued work on its version of the defense bill.