US Senate votes to stop production of F-22 plane

[babylonsister]

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSWAT01164420090721

US Senate votes to stop production of F-22 plane
Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:42pm EDT


WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to stop production of the F-22 fighter plane, handing President Barack Obama a victory as he tries to rein in defense spending.

The Senate voted 58 to 40 to strip $1.75 billion for the Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N)-built planes from a $680 billion defense bill, overriding the objections of lawmakers seeking to protect manufacturing jobs in the midst of a deep recession.

The Senate's vote does not necessarily kill the program as the House of Representatives included funding for the state-of-the-art fighter in its bill, which sets military spending priorities.

[TayTay]

1. This is a very big deal

The Pentagon and the President did not want that purchase of 7 F-22's to go through. Many in Congress did because of worries over jobs and national security issues.

This is actually a very big win for President Obama.

[babylonsister]

2. I know, and I'm thrilled!

I do hope the House follows suit.

I think many Congresscritters didn't/don't want to anger their high-dollar defense contributors by this being canceled. That's too bad.

[TayTay]

4. Yeah, but it was also kind of confusing

The argument for restoring funding was that this was a jobs and a national security issue. Okay, the national security issue is hard to sustain when the SecDef and POTUS are against the plane and don't see it as a priority. The jobs part was also troublesome when funding for the F-35 is kept and the companies and many of the locations working on that were working on the F-22. Won't some of those jobs move over to the increased production on the F-35?

Edit F-35 not J-35

[babylonsister]

6. You would think those jobs would move to the new

production line as happens at Boeing or any place that makes airplanes. The defense industry and their enablers-lobbyists and politicians- didn't want to lose this cash cow regardless of how useless it is/was to us.

[TayTay]

7. It's about a lot more than that

This is just the opening round in a long fight over defense spending. It should get real interesting as priorities get discussed.

Interestingly enough, the same day that the Boston Globe had an article on the Senate F-22 fight, it had an article below that about the US Marines training soldiers to use burros on missions in rough terrain in Afghanistan. Hmmmmm. Maybe we need to stop funding 30 year programs that might be obsolete by the time they come online and try and be more flexible in what we fund for our defense needs.

I really like Robert Gates. I'm glad that Pres. Obama kept him on.

[tekisui]

3. Yes it is. He was threatening veto.

It would have been a blow if he had been forced to veto a bill from his own party's Congress.

[krispos42]

5. Ah, so automotive manufacturing jobs are shit but defense manufacturing jobs are important

Nice. Very nice.


As usual, the definition of "strong on defense" as used by Republicans is simply the number of dollars thrown at the Pentagon.


There's an older gentleman in Arizona that collects Luger pistols. He has several hundred of them in his house, has spent probably hundred of thousands of dollars on them. By Republican definition, he's got an AAA rating on home defense.

:eyes:

[redqueen]

8. Good!

It's a drop in the too-much-money-for-the-military bucket, but it'll do!

[Mass]

9. Roll call here - It is an amazing bipartisan vote, with liberals and conservatives on both sides

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00235

Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---58
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shelby (R-AL)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---40
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Martinez (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Snowe (R-ME)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Udall (D-NM)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

[Spazito]

10. That IS a fascinating roll-call list...

I sure would like to know the 'back story' on that one!

Thanks for the list, it is very interesting.

[Downtown Hound]

11. Thank God

At a time when people are springing up tent cities left and right, the last thing we need are more death machines that will not keep us safer.

[timeforpeace]

12. WTF? "The Senate's vote does not necessarily kill the program"