House Kills F-35 Engine Funds in Defeat for Boehner

The U.S. House killed an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as rank-and-file lawmakers, seeking deep cuts in spending, voted down a program backed by House Speaker John Boehner.

Lawmakers voted 233-198 today to remove $450 million for the engine from a Republican bill that already aims to slash $61 billion from this year’s budget. The vote was a victory for President Barack Obama and the Pentagon, which for years has said the program isn’t needed.

“After years of throwing good money after bad to fund the wasteful extra engine, the House has finally voted to end this unnecessary program,” said Florida Republican Tom Rooney, who co-sponsored the amendment. “Today’s vote sends a message to the American people that Congress heard their call to eliminate wasteful spending.”

Republicans split almost evenly on the engine, with 110 voting to end it and 130 voting to keep it. More than half of the freshmen Republicans voted against the engine program. Among Democrats, 123 opposed funding the engine and 68 voted to continue the funding.

Boehner had argued the program would produce savings for the government over time. His Ohio district is near a plant that would be threatened with job losses if the program were defunded. It is being developed by General Electric Co. and Rolls Royce Group Plc.

500 Amendments

The House is considering more than 500 amendments from lawmakers taking advantage of Boehner’s promise to allow a free debate on the budget-cutting proposal introduced last week.

The plan, which would fund the government from March 4 through Sept. 30, would kill more than 100 government programs and slash hundreds more. The Environmental Protection Agency would be cut by nearly one-third, the Peace Corps would face a 20 percent reduction and Pell college tuition grants would drop by 15 percent. Republicans plan a final vote on the measure by the end of this week.

Senate Democrats said the House plan would force as many as 218,000 children to be dropped from the Head Start program and lead to the firing of 65,000 teachers.

“If we follow the House Republicans’ roadmap, it would lead the country over the cliff,” Senator Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement.

Deeper Cuts

Many House Republicans are seeking even deeper cuts to the plan, with Jim Jordan of Ohio proposing to cut an additional $20 billion and Texas Republican Ron Paul proposing to slash aid to Egypt, Israel, Pakistan and Jordan by $6 billion.

Other amendments would bar funds to implement Obama’s health-care law, reduce funds for farm subsidies and prevent government workers from implementing the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, created under the financial overhaul Congress passed last year.

The House budget plan would be unlikely to survive in the Senate, where majority Democrats today endorsed Obama’s call for a five-year freeze of non-security discretionary spending to help reduce the deficit. Such a freeze would save $400 billion over 10 years.

‘We’re Broke’

Asked about concerns the House’s proposed spending cuts would force the government to furlough employees, Boehner said yesterday, “so be it” because “we’re broke.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the House Armed Services Committee today that the backup F-35 engine is “an unnecessary and extravagant expense” that the Pentagon has been trying to kill since former President George W. Bush’s administration.

Representative Kevin McCarthy, the No. 3 Republican, told reporters the alternative engine program would produce savings because having multiple companies participating would generate competition. “You would save money by having the competition,” he said.

Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, scoffed at those arguments, saying the issue was “parochial politics versus fiscal responsibility.” Today’s vote “is an indication of whether we’re serious about saving money,” he said.

Rooney said that, while he asked freshman lawmakers how they could pass up an opportunity to save $450 million, Boehner was urging members to support the engine plan.

Rooney declined to describe Boehner’s pitch, saying, “You’ll have to ask him; I’ve been trying to stay away from him.”