Lawmakers Return Next Week, And That's When The Fireworks Will Really Begin

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he's been "pleasantly surprised" so far by the relatively muted response from lawmakers after his announcement of plans to cut spending on several high-dollar projects, including the F-22 Raptor fighter and VH-71 presidential helicopter.

Given those cutbacks -- if approved -- would affect millions of dollars and thousands of jobs in congressional districts all over the country, many expected Congress to decry Gates' proposal... but so far, the anticipated uproar hasn't come to pass.

"It seems to me that a number of the responses have been thoughtful, and [lawmakers] have been willing to take this seriously and in the vein it was intended," Gates told reporters traveling with him, reports The Washington Post.

As ANN reported, in his FY 2010 Pentagon budget submitted April 6, Gates recommended the Defense Department cut all further funding for production of the F-22A Raptor, and halting development of the controversial VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement and almost equally-contentious US Air Force Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter.

Funding for those programs would be shifted instead to funding so-called "nonconventional" warfare programs, as seen in the current insurgent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That plan received the unexpected endorsement from US Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, in a Monday op-ed piece published in the Post.

A few lawmakers have come forward to protest those proposed cuts, mostly to the F-22... but so far, those comments have been relatively muted.

There is a punch line here, though. Congress is still on its version of "spring break," and lawmakers won't be back on the job until next week. Gates realizes that may be when the real fireworks begin.

"I don't know whether I am in the eye of the storm," he said Tuesday.

FMI: www.defenselink.mil