Posted on 07/13/2009 11:28:21 AM PDT by jazusamo
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.
The Senate could face a close vote on whether to strip the money from the defense authorization bill. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) won narrow support for an amendment to authorize funds for more F-22s when the Armed Services Committee marked up the bill last month. Levin and McCain opposed it at the time.
Probably started the design effort 10 years ago - that’s a big pile of man-hours designing a very complex machine with mostly exotic materials. When you want the best air superiority fighter in the world for the next 20 years - you get what you pay for. This is the next best thing to a Flying Saucer with teeth.
I guess we should stick with muskets and bayonnets. They’re cheap.
Uh, excuse me your Assholiness, you worked your dishonest butt off to elect a veto-proof Congress. You are no longer have the final word on what becomes law in this country!
I'm sure there are at least a few Republican lawmakers who would simply delight in helping overturn a veto from you!
So soon they forget.
I doubt he cares about this one way or another, and he’s using it to toy with people. Obambi just wants something to veto in order to look more “presidential.”
There’s a huge anti-F22 email campaign now from Ben (as in Ben & Jerry’s) Cohen’s TrueMajority/US Action. The Left is all exercised over this, so it’s something Obambi can use to placate them.
The Obamas and their two brats will spend more than that on sightseeing and shopping trips.
If they don’t build some of these really soon, the very last MILSPEC-capable copper & brass mill will go out of business, and the USA will no longer be able to make 100% of it’s own fighter jet parts.
Not battleship but spitballs.
Personally, I think if we had the right foreign policies we could get by with nothing but handguns and nukes.
Whoops - my red is blue and blue is red
THE ME 262 WAS THE F 22 OF ITS DAY.
WE SWAMPED IT WITH THE P-51, P-47, P-38, SPITFIRE ETC.
IS THIS NOT A CASE WHERE QUANTITY WITH QUALITY, MAY BE JUST AS GOOD AS EACH PLANE COSTING A BILLION,,,A BILLION DOLLARS? DO YOU REALIZE WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE? THE F-16 COST 32M A SHORT SPAN AGO. HOW THE HELL DID WE GET TO BILLIONS AND ONLY GET A FEW HUNDRED PLANES?
Good point, the radical left never saw a defense system they liked and unfortunately Zer0 feels the same and can make points with them.
Your point and being able to keep the assembly line open until a sane president gets in office is probably why Zer0 is so adamant about shutting the production down.
CAUSE THE ME 262 CAME INTO THE WAR A LITTLE LATE... HAD THE ME 262 BEEN IN WAR EARLY ON LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutety right. $ 1.75 billion is chump change to these clowns.
This isn't about money. It is about capping our airpower. Someday we may need those seven fighters.
Absolutety right. $ 1.75 billion is chump change to these clowns.
This isn't about money. It is about capping our airpower. Someday we may need those seven fighters.
Holy smoke - Ogabe sure is breaking out the veto pen bright and early. Bush’s first veto was in 2006, over federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
It's not about the seven fighters. It's about ending production of the F-22, after which the molds are scrapped, and the knowledge is lost for years. Ogabe does not want this country to have more of these tools without having to spend tens of billions of additional dollars.
FINE! Get the bastard on record with a veto. Wave that around under the noses of all Americans. Especially those out of work that are experienced participants in creating and manufacturing for our defense.
“I agree with Obama, we don’t need these expensive F-22s. The age of fighting wars through air power is over, it’s all about the battleship now.”
Heck, we can buy 1,000,000 horses with that kind of cash.
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