News

ABC News
July 21, 2009

MSNBC.com
July 21, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32028667/ns/us_news-military/

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to terminate further production of the U.S. Air Force's topline F-22 fighter jets, giving President Barack Obama a major spending victory and siding with the Pentagon's desire for smaller jets better suited to 21st-century wars.

F-22 supporters complained the action would be a blow to long-term national defense — and cost thousands of jobs in the middle of the recession.

The 58-40 vote to cut the money from a $680 billion defense bill was a hard-fought victory for Obama, who had threatened to veto defense spending legislation if it included funds for more F-22s. Wavering lawmakers heard repeatedly from Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other senior administration officials.

The Rachel Maddow Show
July 21, 2009

The Nation
By John Nichols: July 21, 2007
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/454196/senate_rejects_f_22_boondo...

Matt Holland, Pentagon Budget Campaign Director for USAction/TrueMajority, hailed the vote as a signal that, despite the considerable amount of influence defense contractors wield, some members of Congress to examine wasteful Pentagon spending.

POLITICO
By DAVID ROGERS & JEN DIMASCIO: July 21, 2009
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25210.html#ixzz0LulywE3E

The Senate voted Tuesday to cut off production funding for the F-22 fighter, a come-from-behind win for Defense Secretary Robert Gates who has targeted the costly program as part of his effort to restructure the Pentagon budget.

The Washington Post
By R. Jeffrey Smith: July 21, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR200907...

The Senate voted Tuesday to kill the nation's premier fighter jet program, embracing by a 58-40 vote margin the argument of President Obama and his top military advisers that the F22 is no longer needed for the nation's defense and a costly drag on the Pentagon's budget in an era of small wars and growing counter-insurgency efforts.

The New York Times
By CHRISTOPHER DREW: July 21, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/business/22defense.html

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 58-40 on Tuesday to strip $1.75 billion for seven more F-22 fighters from a military spending 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 spending bill if it included any money for the planes.

The Associated Press
By JIM ABRAMS: July 21, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jIxeHYBgfpp_jhHxYl0L09...

WASHINGTON — The argument over whether spending $1.75 billion on seven additional F-22 jets makes good economic sense is coming to a head between Congress and the Obama administration.

The Hill
By Jim Snyder and Silla Brush: July 20, 2009
http://thehill.com/business--lobby/subject-of-veto-threat-f-22-faces-2-k...

Whether President Obama and Congress are on a collision course regarding the F-22 may become clearer this week after two key votes in the House and Senate.

The House Appropriations Committee Defense subcommittee has already bucked the administration, adding $369 million for parts for 12 more F-22s in the defense spending bill.

Hartford Currant
By ERIC GERSHON: July 20, 2009
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-f22-fighter-jet-discussion-0720,0,398...

Debate over the future of the F-22 fighter jet resumes on Capitol Hill this week, as the House and Senate consider whether to keep the plane in production and, if so, how much to spend.

The F-22 supports between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs in Connecticut, according to Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., mainly at UTC's Pratt & Whitney and Hamilton Sundstrand units. They make the F-119 engine and related parts for the F-22.