Current Congressional Politics of the F-22

R.I.P. Sec Gates reform budget

In a disappointing decision, the House Rules Committee last night decided not to allow an up-or-down floor vote on an amendment to strip F-22 funding from the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization bill.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) tried to knock out $369 million for F-22s that the House Armed Services Committee added in a shady 31 to 30 vote at 2:30 in the morning, but he was rebuffed by the Rules Committee.

Why? Well, politics. Rather than permitting a floor vote on the F-22 that might make them look both “soft” on defense and unsupportive of constituents who work in aerospace, House Democrats may be hoping that the Senate keeps F-22 funds out of the bill (which the Senate Armed Services Committee is marking up today) so that the decision can be pinned on the Senate, not the House. SASC chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) both oppose the addition of F-22 funds, so SASC may in fact fulfill House hopes and keep the Senate bill Raptor-free.

This will force a renegade Senate Republican – here’s looking at you, Saxby Chambliss! – to offer a floor amendment in order to add the money. If that floor amendment fails (44 senators signed a letter this year asking for more F-22 funding, so the vote will be close), the conference committee will have to decide whether to include F-22 money (as the House wanted) or not to include money (as the Senate wanted). If the Senate floor amendment passes, then the F-22 funds will certainly be included in the final version.

Remember that all of this political wrangling only addresses the authorization bill. The appropriations bill – led by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) in the House and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) in the Senate – is a whole new ballgame. Decisions made by appropriators tend to be the final word on budget matters, so advocates of more F-22 dollars are sure to focus on this elite group of so-called cardinals. Murtha said today he opposes the shut down of the F-22 line, so it will be a tough fight to keep the money out of his bill (h/t Defense Tech). And Inouye, well, is not exactly a shrinking violet on add-ons, either.

For more, see Paul Krugman, Think Progress, Lorelei Kelly at HuffPo, Tom Andrews at HuffPo, and Rachel Morris at MoJo. A lot of people unhappy about the Rules Committee decision.