Our congresscritters are driving the M-I-C bus

Panel Seen Approving F-35 Engine, Risking Veto
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Published: July 26, 2010

Despite increasing calls from lawmakers for deficit reduction, one military program opposed by the White House and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates — an alternate engine for the joint strike fighter — so far refuses to die.

Even as Mr. Gates steps up his efforts to tighten Pentagon contracting, House members are expected to rebuff him once again on Tuesday on the engine, one of the main programs he has vowed to kill.

Lawmakers say they expect the House defense appropriations subcommittee to add $485 million to keep the engine alive, setting up a showdown with the Senate over a project the White House has described as veto bait.

The continued support for the engine, made by General Electric and Rolls-Royce, is likely despite opposition from the panel’s new chairman, Representative Norm Dicks, Democrat of Washington, who said he was concerned about the veto threat.

And it could overshadow other parts of the bill, which would trim nearly $7 billion from the Pentagon’s $549 billion budget request and end support for Boeing’s C-17 cargo planes.

President Obama said he would veto any bill that included additional money for either the alternate engine, which would compete with one built by Pratt & Whitney for up to $100 billion in business, or the five more C-17s sought by Boeing.