Budget faces veto if F-22 isn’t cut - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Budget faces veto if F-22 isn’t cut

President Barack Obama and top defense officials warned Monday that the 2010 defense budget will be vetoed unless Congress kills further purchases of the F-22 aircraft.

Continuing to procure more of the fighters is taking money away from more pressing needs, Obama said in a letter as the Senate begins debating S 1390, the 2010 defense authorization act.

The bill includes about $1.75 billion for the purchase of seven more F-22s that the Pentagon says it does not want or need.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, in their own letter to Congress, said continuing to spend money beyond 2009 on the F-22 would come “at the expense of other Air Force and defense programs.”

The letters were read on the Senate floor by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, who said the $1.75 billion being spent on the F-22 was taken from military personnel and operations and maintenance accounts, including accounts to cover the cost of active-duty bonuses and support and from the civilian payroll account.

Money also was “found” through an assumption that the military will be able to save money starting next year by reforming defense acquisition policies.

“Each of these places cannot afford these cuts,” Levin said, noting in particular that overhauling rules on weapons-buying could end up costing money in the short term rather than providing savings.

“Major savings, which we think will come, are not going to happen in the short term,” he said.

Levin said cutting uniformed and civilian personnel accounts would be a mistake, and likely would force the Pentagon to come back later for extra money to cover expenses.

Levin and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the armed services committee’s ranking Republican, support the Pentagon’s view that 187 F-22s are enough. As Senate debate began Monday on the bill, the first amendment under consideration is to cancel additional F-22 purchases.

“At some point, we have to come to the logical conclusion that a weapons system has come to an end,” Levin said.

This will be the first of many tests to see whether Congress is willing to terminate or reduce weapons programs. In this case, with contracts for F-22 pieces spread over 40 states, job protection in a weak economy is a major factor.

McCain said the votes “are not there” to kill the F-22, and that he hopes Obama’s letter “has a significant impact.”

Debate on the defense bill is expected to extend through early next week, with more than 300 amendments anticipated.

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