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| Hey! Congressman, Pork is better when it's dressed up.... |
Rep. Franks urging seems to have paid off.. It took from February to May but by damn he got it..
May 12, 2011, Despite rhetoric about the imminent need to cut federal spending, the Republican-controlled House Armed Services Committee late in the night approved a $700 billion military funding allocation for next year — the Pentagon’s largest budget ever — including a “lifeline” to the presumed-dead extra engine for F-35 fighter jet:
During a markup of the 2012 Pentagon authorization measure, House Armed Services Committee members approved one amendment that would allow Rolls and GE access to equipment so they could continue testing a second F-35 power plant. [...]
[T]he panel shot down an amendment introduced by [Rep. Jim] Cooper [R-TX] that would have siphoned $380.6 million from the F-35 fighter program. It also would have reduced the planned buy of the Marines’ version of the Lockheed Martin-made F-35 in 2012, from six to four.
Defying both the White
House and the Pentagon, the House Armed Services Committee brought back to life
the alternate engine program for the stealth F-35 fighter jet.
Years have been spent
haggling of with Capitol Hill over the costs of building and maintaining two
different engines for the F-35, the Defense Department officially terminated
the General Electric/Rolls Royce engine program last week. But supporters [Arizona
Trent Franks] on the Armed Services panel, who are in the throes of drafting
the annual defense authorization bill, want to at least preserve the option of
building a second engine for the advanced fighter jet.
General Electric officials, who are worried that losing the F-35 engine would make them less competitive on future military aviation programs like the Air Force's next bomber, plan to invest at least $100 million a year to keep a core engineering team in place and continue some limited work on the program.
The subcommittee's
provision, though weak, would give GE and Rolls Royce the fighting chance they
need to regain a portion of the engine market. It might also only be a starting
point for the committee.
Armed Services members,
including Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., are considering stronger language,
which could be added to the authorization bill when the full committee meets
next week to consider the legislation. http://www.govexec.com/news/?oref=topnav
General Electric despite billions in profit did not pay any taxes for 2010. Will be rewarded with billions in taxpayer dollars to build a second F-35 engine to be built in Speaker Boehner's district in Ohio.
