President Had Threatened To Veto Spending Plan If Alternate Engine Was Included

The $636.3 billion fiscal 2010 military appropriations bill approved by the U.S. Senate Tuesday does not include funding for the F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter program. The alternate engine has been the focus of a presidential veto threat through the entire budget process.

The bill also zeroed out funding for the VH-71 replacement presidential helicopter, which had also drawn a veto threat. That program will possibly start over from scratch.

The Senate passed the bill Tuesday 93-7, which sets up a potentially contentious conference with House negotiators. The House defense appropriations bill includes money for both programs.

Bloomberg News reports that the authorization bill already in conference, which actually tells the military how much it can spend on the various programs, includes money for the JSF alternate engine. Conferees Tuesday agreed to allocate $560 million to fund an alternative engine for the F-35 fighter jet, sources close to the talks said.

But the appropriations bill is the mechanism that actually makes money available.

The House and Senate each appropriated money for additional C-17 cargo planes, thought the Senate bill would fund seven more than the house measure. The Senate rebuffed Senator John McCain, who offered amendments to spend that money on equipment and maintenance, and then simply to cut C-17 funding.

The Senate bill adds up to $3.9 billion less than President Obama had requested in his budget, and includes $128.2 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

FMI: www.senate.gov