WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House and Senate negotiators defied a White House veto threat and agreed on Tuesday to include $560 million in the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill for an alternate F-35 engine, a source familiar with the talks told Reuters.
President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have repeatedly said they oppose funding for the second F-35 engine, which is being built by General Electric Co and Britain's Rolls-Royce Group Plc, given mounting pressures on the U.S. defense budget.
"If the final bill this year once again calls for further investment in a second engine, the department will carefully evaluate the impact of that before making a recommendation to the president about whether or not to veto the legislation," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
Congress has funded work on the second engine for 13 years, eager to maintain competition in a weapons program that is valued at over $100 billion over time.The House and Senate negotiators also agreed to fully fund the Pentagon's $6 billion request to buy 30 F-35 fighters, said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Oh well, at least this spending creates a system that might actually increase American interests, in contrast to most of the nonsense Obama pushes.
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