Obama’s Test: The F-22

F-22s. Photo from Zap16.com

From DoD Buzz:

The future of the Obama administration’s efforts to reshape the Defense Department may well be determined as the Senate debates whether to stop F-22 production. Defense Secretary Robert Gates may not be around for the 2012 budget, but the administration’s ability to hog-tie (er, effectively debate) Congress — as it did so effectively for the budget year — will hinge on whether it can stop the F-22 forces in their tracks.

The vote on the Levin-McCain amendment to strip $1.75 billion from the authorization bill and spread the money around to service operations and maintenance accounts, with the final $500 million going back into the general budget kitty, will probably note get voted on for several days, according to a senior congressional aide. The GOP balked at allowing a vote today as members plotted how to get the best return on their votes. Also, a congressional aide said that Levin and McCain are scrambling to find enough votes to overturn the committee’s decision to overrule both the chairman and the ranking member in funding more F-22s. The two leading defense experts in the Senate are in the extraordinary spot of finding it very difficult to convince, cajole and wheedle their colleagues into supporting what they believe is a compelling and obvious position.

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My Comment: The majority of the Senators want this program to continue .... killing it is going to be difficult.

To insure that the F-22 program is killed, President Obama will need to convince (bribe) a number of Senators to support his recommendation that this program be terminated .... hmmm .... I wish him luck.