F-22 goes down to defeat in Senate
John Isaacs of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation says via email:
The Senate today voted 58 – 40 to approve a Levin (D-MI) – McCain (R-AZ) amendment to eliminate the $1.75 billion the Senate Armed Services Committee added for the F-22 aircraft.The vote was significant because if those supporting more aircraft had prevailed despite the fact that the plane has no utility in Iraq or Afghanistan, is egregiously expensive and is strenuously opposed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and threatened by a veto from the President, the vote would have been widely interpreted by the media as a crushing defeat for the Obama Administration.
Ben Cardin voted for the amendment (against the F-22). Barbara Mikulski, perceived as an F-22 supporter, broke her ankle Sunday and did not vote.
Comments
Good for Ben and about freaking time too.
As much as I've loved her over the years, have voted for her many times and generally align on positions with her... put a fork in the old girl, she's done.
How convoluted would it have to be to get MOM to take over Bab's Senate seat now? It seems a multitude of good could come from even a glaringly tawdry public mishandling.
Posted by: MrRational | July 21, 2009 2:15 PM
The biggest congressional loser as the F-22 went down in flames was Georgia's Chambliss---and it probably is the closest this draft-evading, refusing-to-fight senator will ever come to combat.
Posted by: Jiggs Kincaid | July 21, 2009 4:02 PM
It is about time they killed this mess. The killed the ridiculous Comanche(helicopter version f-22) project ages ago. They are already developing the f-35 for much less money and it is much more flexible.
Posted by: Neil | July 21, 2009 4:18 PM