Senate Votes Down Military Boondoggle

Posted on Jul 21, 2009

U.S. Air Force / Master Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo

One politician’s jobs program is another’s “inexcusable waste of money.” Luckily for the taxpayer, that’s how Barack Obama feels about the F-22 strike fighter, a plane Congress has been pushing over the military’s objections. After Obama threatened a veto, the Senate voted not to fund the jet, which was designed to fight the Soviets.

Military industrialists need not worry. The U.S. still spends more money on its military than the rest of the world combined.

Bloomberg:

Obama said he is “grateful” to members of the Senate who voted to end production of the F-22. “At a time when we’re fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this would have been an inexcusable waste of money,” Obama said at the White House.

The overall measure authorizes $680.4 billion for spending by the Defense Department in fiscal 2010. The Senate plans to pass the legislation later this week. It must be reconciled with the House version passed June 25 that provides $369 million as a down-payment for 12 more fighters.

Lawmakers seeking to continue production of the fighter argued that ending it would cost thousands of jobs.

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