C-17 Is Preserved, Other Programs Axed

President Barack Obama mostly won a political victory when the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) appropriations subcommittee reported out a Defense Appropriations bill that cuts funding for additional F-22 Raptors and the VH-71 presidential helicopter, but leaves enough money in the budget to keep the C-17 production line open in Long Beach for another year.

Defense News reports that the Armed Services Subcommittee voted unanimously for the bill in a 15 minutes session Wednesday. The total defense appropriation approved by the panel is $636.3 billion for the U.S. military for fiscal 2010, which begins October 1st. Subcommittee chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) said that is $3.9 billion less than Obama requested, and it includes $128.2 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama had threatened to veto any defense appropriations bill sent to his desk that included the additional Raptors or the VH-71.

California Senator Diane Feinstein thanked Inouye for the money to build 10 additional C-17's in her state, which she said would save 5000 jobs.

The full SASC got the bill Thursday.

FMI: http://armed-services.senate.gov