Obama says he’ll veto defense bill if F-22 spending increased
President Barack Obama has called the bluff of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and other congressional proponents of increased spending on the Marietta-built F-22.
This just posted on The Hill:
In an unusual move, President Obama sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee vowing to veto any defense bill that funds more Lockheed Martin F-22 fighter jets.
Obama threw down the gauntlet as the Senate took up the 2010 defense authorization bill. The firm commitment to veto any defense bill containing funding for the F-22 puts Obama in a tough position: he would veto bills written by a Democratic Congress.
The letter to Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) comes as the two senators introduced an amendment to strip $1.75 billion for seven additional F-22s from the Pentagon policy bill.
“…I will veto any bill that supports acquisition of F-22s beyond the 187 already funded by Congress,” Obama wrote on Monday. The Obama administration wants to cap the F-22 fleet at 187 aircraft.
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© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
8 comments Add your comment
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
July 13th, 2009
3:57 pm
With Saxby it’s LOBBYIST first and country last. Look at how he served on the UGA baseball team during Viet Nam. Daddy is in this for the money.
will jones and the pillar of con
July 13th, 2009
4:23 pm
chambliss a conservative? no more so than obamma, or JI. Get real, just looking for $$$$ for his district.
Dawg80
July 13th, 2009
4:32 pm
Morons like Saxby, Tom Price and Phil Gingrey spend the day talking rhetoric about Obama’s spending, then try to wrangle pork spending and hope that it slips under the proverbial radar. As a Mariettan, I would like the F-22 to continue production for as long as possible, but I don’t fault Obama for putting his foot down these hypocrites. I blame Georgia’s rhetoric-spouting GOP officials in Washington for their lack of cooperation with the man holding the veto pen.
What did Saxby, Price and Gingrey expect? Well, they probably did expect this, but would rather take this route and fail the F-22 program and Cobb County than be seen working sensibly with the Obama administration on anything. Again, Obama is the one holding the marbles, so it would’ve helped to play nice. We’re all in trouble with these mindless, GOP, talking-point idiots representing us in DC.
SHAMELESS
July 13th, 2009
4:44 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior U.S. lawmakers on Monday vowed to overturn a Senate Armed Services Committee plan to build more F-22 fighter jets, calling the spending unworkable amid the Pentagon’s belt-tightening effort.
Carl Levin and John McCain, the top Democrat and Republican, respectively, on the committee, said they will offer an amendment to overturn the committee’s decision to spend $1.75 billion (1.08 billion pounds) for seven more planes made by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The additional F-22 jets were included in the committee’s legislation setting overall defence spending priorities, which is expected to be debated by the Senate most of this week.
Levin and McCain opened debate on the defence authorization bill with a broadside against plans to keep building the F-22 Raptor model beyond the 187 aircraft already in the budget pipeline.
The new planes are opposed by the Obama administration, which has threatened to veto funding.
“I hope that my colleagues understand that a veto is likely if the Congress does not act to end the F-22,” McCain said.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates wants to cut back many of the military’s weapons programs and transition from the F-22 to three models of Lockheed’s Joint Strike Fighter F-35, co-developed with eight countries and built for export.
House and Senate lawmakers in committee have also voted to put extra money towards an alternate engine for the F-35 to be built by a team from General Electric and Rolls-Royce Group. Obama opposes the second engine.
dmac
July 14th, 2009
6:57 am
Saxby warns that thousands of jobs will be lost. What a lie.
The F-35, just like the F-22 will be built (in part) in Marietta.
F22 Guy
July 14th, 2009
7:52 am
all Saxby cares about is the lobbyist money, he probably doesn’t know the F22 is a fighter jet.
The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar
July 14th, 2009
7:10 pm
Looks like Obama is pulling the teat out of Cobb County’s ungrateful mouths.
JAD
July 15th, 2009
9:08 am
The Airforce submitted that they DID NOT WANT THIS. If the planners at the Af say they can do without and need to redirect spending towards the current threats, why do a bunch of people sitting in DC think they know better?