The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Wednesday that he hopes President-elect Trump sends a supplemental funding request to Congress early next year to buy back some of the weapons left out of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said it was “disappointing” that the additional F-35s and littoral combat ships in the House-passed version of the bill did not make it into the final compromise bill, but that it had to be done to finish the bill before the end of the year and boost the number of soldiers and Marines.
“My hope is the new administration will come to us with a supplemental request as soon as they get their feet on the ground,” Thornberry said at the Foreign Policy Initiative’s 2016 forum.
A senior committee aide said Tuesday that the boost in troop numbers won out over the increase to procurement because it takes years to build up troop numbers again once they are cut, whereas platforms can be added at any time.
The compromise bill, which will be introduced in the House on Wednesday and is expected to be considered on Friday, includes 63 F-35s, which is what the president asked for. The House bill would have bought 74 jets. The budget cut the total LCS buy from 52 to 40.
Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for the tri-service F-35s, while Lockheed and Austal USA each are building their own class of littoral combat ships.
