Oregonian: "Don't ram out-of-control acquisition programs down the throat of the Pentagon. "

I’ve said it before (here), and I’ll say it again:” The F-22 program is not a jobs program.” Too many congressmen, unfortunately, think otherwise. They are increasing the budget for F-22’s beyond what the Pentagon requested. Yes, crazy. The Oregonian gets it right (here):

The wrangle in the House of Representatives recently isn't only about buying 12 more F-22 fighter jets: It's about whether Congress will permit the president to cut unnecessary defense programs that run absurdly over budget.

President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered a responsible plan to bring the F-22 program to a close, capping the number built at 187, or just four more than are planned.

The plane, which has never been used in a combat role and hasn't been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, has become a poster child for cost overruns. The price of each of the last four planes is pegged by the Air Force at about $196 million, although the true cost is closer to $350 million, according to independent analysts such as Winslow Wheeler, a director at the Center for Defense Information. (In 1999, advocates cited a "sticker price" of less than $85 million per plane.)

Yet, over the objections of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., the committee voted 31-30 this month to expand the program. It would do so over the objections of the Pentagon itself and, further, would take the initial money for additional production from a separate program to clean up nuclear sites.

This craziness comes to you courtesy of a system in which contractors such as Lockheed-Martin scatter production jobs around the country, employing workers in enough congressional districts to ensure widespread support of arms-building programs, no matter how inefficient or unnecessary they are.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is proposing an amendment that would restore the F-22 program to original funding levels proposed by the Pentagon. He sees it as a first -- and therefore, critically important -- test of whether Congress will let the administration reshape the defense budget.

The House should embrace the Frank amendment. If this president and this secretary of defense aren't allowed to end a program as wasteful as the F-22, then the contractors are running the national defense program, to the detriment of national military and economic policy.

Although some in Congress attempt to lecture the Pentagon on the strategic importance of the F-22, the fact is they are most interested in protecting jobs in their districts. Yet the money spent on the F-22 would be better spent on the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35, which is also built by Lockheed-Martin and also has a broad constituency around the country. (It has a broad constituency around the world, actually, with other allies participating in production and as potential customers.)

If the Democrats who control the House of Representatives want to help their president succeed and, coincidentally, do the responsible thing for the country, they should make sure that a few self-interested members don't ram out-of-control acquisition programs down the throat of the Pentagon.

The Oregonian is calling this one right!

Democrats, beware! Don't let this spending get out of control!

 

Comments

[christian louboutin shoes]

The wrangle in the House of Representatives recently isn't only about buying 12 more F-22 fighter jets: It's about whether Congress will permit the president to cut unnecessary defense programs that run absurdly over budget.

[louboutin]

F-22 would be better spent on the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35, which is also built by Lockheed-Martin and also has a broad constituency around

[christian louboutin shoes]

Although some in Congress attempt to lecture the Pentagon on the strategic importance of the F-22, the fact is they are most interested in protecting jobs in their districts. Yet the money spent on the F-22 would be b

[pandora]

lso built by Lockheed-Martin and also has a broad constituency around the country. (It has a broad

[christian louboutin sale]

dment that would restore the F-22 program to original funding levels proposed by the Pentagon. He sees it as a first -- and therefore, critically important -- test