Levin says vote postponed on F-22 jet funding
WASHINGTON — A key Senate vote that would eliminate $1.75 billion added to the defense spending bill for more fighter jets from Lockheed Martin has been postponed again.
Sen. Carl Levin on Wednesday withdrew the F-22 amendment so the Senate can first address a controversial hate crimes bill. That legislation, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will be attached to the fiscal 2010 defense spending bill.
The chamber had been expected to vote Tuesday on the amendment filed by Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. John McCain, the committee’s top Republican, to cut extra money for seven more planes and avert a veto threat from the White House.
The committee last month narrowly approved the additional F-22 funding requested by Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss, despite opposition from Levin and McCain. Elsewhere, the House last month voted to include a $369 million down payment for 12 additional fighters to its version of the defense bill.
The F-22 funding has sparked a political showdown with the Obama administration. In a statement Wednesday, the White House reiterated its veto threat against a defense spending bill that includes money to buy more of the radar-evading jets beyond the 187 requested.
McCain, in an unusual alliance with the administration, expressed disappointment on the Senate floor that the chamber has failed to vote on the F-22 amendment.
The Arizona Republican also took issue with Democrats seeking to attach the hate crimes bill before it was properly vetted by the Judiciary Committee. In a telephone interview, McCain called the move by Majority Leader Harry Reid an “abuse of power” that will likely result in the bill’s passage without full debate.
Levin, D-Mich., said it remains unclear why the F-22 vote needs to be delayed after ample time was provided to debate the issue. Even if the F-22 amendment is taken up after the hate crimes bill, both will need to be resolved, he added.
Reid, D-Nev., is expected to file for cloture Wednesday, which would advance the hate crimes bill for a vote. That means the F-22 amendment will not be up considered again until next week.
Chambliss and other lawmakers who represent districts where F-22 production jobs are at stake have lobbied hard to keep the program. Lockheed’s primary manufacturing plant is in Georgia, but key parts of the plane also are made in Texas and California.
A spokesman for Reid said the senator preferred to vote on the F-22 first, but it became apparent that supporters of the plane did not want to hold a vote this week.
Defense companies, labor groups and others have been lobbying members for congressional support on what is anticipated to be an extremely close vote on the F-22 amendment.
“I don’t want to give you a vote count,” Levin told reporters. “It’s going to be a close vote.”
McCain said the White House is working with Democrats to secure more votes to cut funding for the F-22.
On the Senate floor Tuesday, Chambliss said a “veto threat is a serious step” and it is “regrettable” that the Obama administration has taken such action over funding for the F-22.
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Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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