Close Vote In House Armed Services Committee

By a 31-30 vote, the House Armed Services Committee agreed to keep funding for the embattled F-22 Raptor program, despite objections from the White House. While the Democratic chairs of both the HASC and the Air and Land Forces Subcommittee voted against the measure, Republicans managed to peel off enough Democrats to gain the narrow margin. House aides have said the bill will face a difficult time in the full House, and the Senate.

The amendment with funding for the F-22, authored by Utah Republican Bob Bishop, is attached to a more comprehensive spending bill. It would pay for the planes with money shifted from environmental cleanup at some military bases.

According to The New York Times, the bill appropriates $369 million for part for 12 new fighters. The vote comes at a time when some allies, most notably Japan, are expressing an interest in buying F-22's from the U.S., though current law prohibits their export. The Japanese government might have to pay up to $2 billion for the removal of certain stealth technologies from the planes they would buy. Japan has expressed in interest in up to 40 aircraft.

Republicans have been opposed the Obama administrations plan to halt production of the F-22 after building 187 of the planes, which cost about $200 million each. GOP leaders say the additional fighters are needed to insure against potential threats from major powers.

Opponents of the plane, however, point to the fact that it has not been used in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and say that it is an unaffordable cold war relic.

FMI: http://armedservices.house.gov/