Senate cuts off funding for F-22

By BOB KEEFE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON — Despite an impassioned debate led by Georgia's Saxby Chambliss, the U.S. Senate sided with the White House on Tuesday and voted to end production of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet assembled in Marietta.

The 58-40 vote cancels $1.75 billion in funding for seven more of the planes Chambliss had sought, despite the Defense Department’s insistence that it needed no more of the planes.

With the vote, production at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta plant and other factories that make parts of the plane is expected to end in 2011 after 187 of the $250 million-plus planes are purchased by the government.

The 2,000 employees at the Marietta plant who work on the plane won’t necessarily lose their jobs. Lockheed has plans to move production of other planes to the plant — including parts of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that’s designed to succeed the F-22.

Chambliss and fellow Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson both have said Lockheed has assured them there probably won’t be major job losses there.

Chambliss said he might still push for some sort of compromise to get the government to buy a few more of the planes, but acknowledged the fight was probably over.

“That was a pretty strong vote,” he said.

Chambliss chalked up his defeat to intense and personal last-minute lobbying by President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who both opposed further funding for the plane.

Gates first announced in April that he wanted to cancel the program and redirect the money toward more pressing needs, such as more Army troops, helicopter training and unmanned aerial vehicles that are needed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In announcing plans to cancel the F-22, Gates announced a ramp-up in production of the more utilitarian F-35.

“I think the president called in a lot of favors — he was on the phone himself as well as was the secretary of defense,” Chambliss said. “I think they’re certainly committed to killing the program where it is.”

At the White House, Obama heralded the Senate vote and said it was a step toward reforming the way Washington does business.

“At a time when we’re fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this would have been an inexcusable waste of money,” Obama said. “Every dollar of waste in our defense budget is a dollar we can’t spend to support our troops, or prepare for future threats, or protect the American people.

“Our budget is a zero-sum game, and if more money goes to F-22s, it is our troops and citizens who lose,” he said.

Yet some of the loudest outcries against continued F-22 production came from Chambliss’ fellow Republican, Sen. John McCain, who sided with Gates and Obama in saying that more F-22s weren’t needed.

The plane — the most expensive ever built — is designed specifically for dogfights, and no other country has anything that can match it. As a result, no F-22s have been used in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Like Obama, McCain held up the F-22 as a symbol of how defense contracts have become influenced more by parochial politics and industry lobbyists than by the needs of the military. Tuesday’s vote, he said, was a signal that there’s still hope for Washington.

“This was a vote that far transcended even $1.75 billion,” McCain said after the vote. “It really means there’s a chance that we can change the way we do business here in Washington.”

In reaction, Chambliss said McCain and other opponents were putting too much emphasis on the F-35 and that the nation’s defense could be in jeopardy if another country developed a rival to the F-22. China and Russia are reportedly working on a next-generation plane that could be effective against the F-22.

“I look forward to (McCain’s) comments when the cost of the F-35 skyrockets,” Chambliss said. “We’ve put all our eggs in that basket, and I think it’s a huge mistake.”

Chambliss and McCain have butted heads over the F-22 before, even though the two are friends and have supported each other politically.

Chambliss endorsed McCain for president, and McCain endorsed Chambliss in his last Senate race. Tuesday, Chambliss said there were no hard feelings between the two.

“John and I had a hard debate on it, but we talked afterwards,” Chambliss said. “We’re good friends, we’re going to remain good friends and we’ll move on.”