Hill Appropriators Kick F-22 When It's Down

The F-22 Raptor’s bad week continues.

First, the Senate voted Tuesday to strip out $1.75 billion in funding.

Then, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman John Murtha added insult to injury by announcing yesterday that even though his subcommittee included $369 million for the F-22, he would remove the funds during floor consideration and redirect them toward F-22 spare parts and other maintenance activities. Sayeth Murtha:

The Senate's 58-40 vote July 21 to strip its fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill (S 1390) of $1.75 billion to buy seven more F-22s rendered the House's F-22 funding effort futile, Murtha said.

"That ended the debate," he said.

Murtha’s counterpart, Daniel Inouye, suggested earlier this week that he too would respect Obama-Gates-Levin-McCain’s gangster and not add F-22 funds to his Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee’s bill.

Where does that leave us? Is the F-22 really dead?

The answer is no, though it did get a stake driven through its heart this week.

Since the House included advanced procurement funds for the F-22 in its version of the Defense Authorization bill, in theory the House’s preference could be upheld during conference negotiations with the Senate. Is this likely? No. Is it possible? Yes.

Also, as charming as it may be that Murtha and Inouye have pledged not to allow F-22 funds into their appropriations bills, the bills still have to survive floor consideration (House) and both committee and floor consideration (Senate). There will therefore be opportunities for F-22 supporters in both chambers to offer amendments that would add money for more Raptors.

After this week’s events, however, I would predict with a moderate-to-high level of confidence that as long as Murtha and Inouye don’t renege on their pledges, any future attempts to add money for the F-22 will fail. If I’m wrong, rest assured that I will delete this post and pretend like I never predicted such a thing.