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"The F-22 decision is an important national security decision with
ramifications for the next 30 years," said Jeff Adams, a spokesman for
Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin, its manufacturer, noting that the Air Force
still says it needs more planes.
Each aircraft now costs about $145 million, and senior defense officials
note that the plane has not been used in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.
Although the F-22 is built as an air-superiority fighter, the U.S. military
has not faced a serious dogfight threat since the Vietnam War, one of the
officials said. The signatories to the Jan. 16 Senate letter supporting the
additional planes included Vice President Biden, then still a Democratic
senator from Delaware, Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Patty Murray
(D-Wash.), Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.),
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
"The thing about weapons and bases is they are backyard issues for members
of Congress," said Gordon Adams, a professor at American University who
formerly served as associate director for national security and
international affairs for the Office of Management and Budget. "It's not
like foreign aid. It's about contracts in my district, contributors to my
election campaign, things that directly affect my prospects of staying in
office and my ability to say to my constituents, 'I got one for you!' That's
the heart of a weapons decision."
Since Democrats took control of the defense appropriations process in 2006,
the defense industry has shifted gears: During the 2008 election cycle, more
than half of the industry's estimated campaign donations of $25.4 million
went to Democrats, marking the first time in 14 years the party had come out
on top, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group
that monitors campaign spending.
The impact of the shift was pronounced in the two committees that control
military spending in the House, where Democrats collected 63 and 66 percent,
respectively, of all defense industry funds given to committee members in
that cycle. The champion was defense appropriations subcommittee Chairman
John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), who collected $743,275 of the industry's money;
second place was held by Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton
(D-Mo.), who collected $268,799, according to the center's tally.
Murtha added more than $100 million in earmarks to the fiscal 2008 defense
bill, nearly a fifth of the total inserted by all Democrats, according to
the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. Every earmark reflects a
project that the Pentagon did not seek in its budget request, and some of
Murtha's earmarks benefited clients of a lobbying firm called PMA Group, now
under FBI investigation for possible violations of federal election law. PMA
is run by a former Murtha aide, and some of its clients were donors to
Murtha campaigns.
"We receive thousands of requests for funding each year, all of which are
fully vetted and approved by the committee and the House," said Murtha
spokesman Matthew Mazonkey. "In the end, we recommend funding only those
programs that have the most value and merit to the Defense Department."
Some, he added, have produced innovations that brought eventual cost
savings.
Murtha also joined other Democrats -- including Boxer -- in adding billions
of dollars to the war budget for 15 Boeing C-17 cargo planes that the
Pentagon did not request. "We have said we have enough" of the C-17s, the
senior defense official said. "But members keep adding them to every
spending bill, every opportunity they can find." Taxpayers for Common Sense
calls the persistent funding "a gift to Boeing." Boeing spokesman Douglas J.
Kennett says that the program's cancellation would cost "over 30,000 jobs
with over 600 aerospace suppliers."
Reid is no match for Murtha, but he still managed to sponsor or co-sponsor
$68 million in unrequested defense earmarks in the 2008 bill, financing the
development of a "truck-deployed explosive containment vehicle," an
"integrated imagery network" for the Nevada National Guard, an Army flatbed
trailer, Nevada anti-drug operations, an Air Force diesel air quality
project, and a propellant agent for "slurry gel" used by the Army.
Three of Reid's Democratic colleagues -- Kennedy, Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.)
and Evan Bayh (Ind.) -- also helped add almost a billion dollars to the
Pentagon budget over the past two years for continued production of an
alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, though the Pentagon said
in 2007 that the engine is unnecessary. The plane is already $55 billion
over its budgeted cost, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The engine is being developed and built by General Electric and Rolls Royce
in Massachusetts, Vermont, Indiana and other states; its production team
says the engine will offer more flexibility for the fighter pilots if it is
installed.
Kennedy also joined Sens. John F. Kerry (Mass.), James Webb (Va.), Herb
Kohl (Wis.) and other Democrats in demanding funding for the third, unwanted
DDG-1000 Navy destroyer. "The world has changed markedly since we began the
march to DDG-1000 in the early 1990s," Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval
operations, said in January, explaining why he sought to cancel the ship in
favor of building more of a smaller, cheaper and older alternative vessel.
Intelligence reports have warned that the ship will be unable to fend off
missile threats, including an advanced missile being developed by China and
simple ones already possessed by Hezbollah. As a result, the Navy agreed to
end production of the hard-to-hide 14,000-ton vessels, capping the program
at two ships instead of seven.
A Kennedy aide said of the senators' joint letter to the Pentagon that "we'd
like to think that it played a big role in changing their mind." He
confirmed that Raytheon, which makes the destroyer's electronic components
in Massachusetts, had contacted Kennedy's office about keeping the ship in
production. But, he added, "we don't do Raytheon's bidding."
A Navy spokesman said Friday that the service still considers the DDG-1000
"a ship you don't need".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030702216.html
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