The Senate Armed Services Committee followed the lead of its House counterpart late last week and added money to the defense authorization bill for additional F-22 fighters — in defiance of a White House veto threat. As CQ‘s Josh Rogin reported, the Senate version of the bill “would permit the government to spend up to $1.75 billion for seven F-22 fighter planes, extending the production line into next year.” Both the chairman of the committee, Carl Levin, and ranking member John McCain voted against the provision, which passed by a margin of 13-11. In a rare instance of support for the administration’s spending priorities, McCain voted against the amendment and told Rogin he would continue the fight against the F-22 when the bill comes to the Senate floor sometime after this week’s recess. A fight on the floor is a good fight for Republicans and will mean a lot of tough votes for Democrats caught between the administration and its liberal supporters on one side and their constituents on the other (jobs on the F-22 are spread across 48 states). More than that, the willingness of both the House and the Senate to push back against the cancellation of F-22, even to the point of defying a veto threat, may be just the tip of the iceberg. Missile defense will be the next big test, and with F-22 as precedent, expect that program’s supporters to be emboldened.
