Bipartisan vote kills alternative engine for next warplanes

WASHINGTON – Determined to reduce deficits, impatient House Republican freshmen made common cause with President Barack Obama on Wednesday, scoring their biggest victory to date in a vote to cancel $450 million for an alternative engine for the Pentagon’s next-generation warplane.

“Right here, right now was a surefire way to reduce spending,” declared Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, a second-term lawmaker whose summons to cut money from the F-35 fighter jet was answered by 47 Republican newcomers. Speaker John Boehner and other House GOP leaders back the funding.

The incursion into the defense budget occurred as the Republican-controlled House debated legislation to cut federal spending by more than $61 billion through the end of the current fiscal year. Nearly all of the reductions are aimed at domestic programs, ranging from education aid to nutrition, environmental protection and farm programs.

Obama has threatened a veto if the measure reaches his desk, but he and the GOP newcomers were on the same side when it came to the engine for the F-35. The House vote was 238-198.

Two successive presidents as well as the Pentagon brass have tried to scrap funding for the alternative engine, arguing it is a waste of money. In a measure of his opposition, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a House committee earlier in the day that overall costs could reach $3 billion, and he vowed to “look at all available legal options to close down this program” if lawmakers fail.

Strictly by the numbers, the vote was a bipartisan one, with 110 Republicans and 123 Democrats supporting cancellation of the funds, while 68 Democrats and 130 Republicans wanted to leave them in place.

But that breakdown obscured the change wrought by the voters last fall. A similar vote in May ended in defeat for opponents of the alternative engine.

“Give these new freshmen credit. They went against their own leadership,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., also a foe of the alternative engine.

“No federal agency is exempt,” said freshman Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., who said the second engine “is militarily unnecessary and a wasteful use of extremely limited and precious taxpayer dollars.”

Apart from spending cuts and the defense budget, the broader legislation before the House contains funding needed to keep the government operating normally after current authority expires on March 4.

House passage is expected by week’s end, although debate has turned into something of an exercise in human endurance as Republicans live up to their pledge of free-flowing discussion and numerous amendments.

Lawmakers debated proposed changes to the bill well after midnight and into the early hours of Wednesday, and arrangements were in place for the House to stay in session as late as 3 a.m. today before adjourning for a few hours and returning to work.

More than 400 proposed changes were stacked up and could be voted on.