CCAGW Blasts House Defense Committee for Funding JSF Alternate Engine

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) blasted members of the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee after they voted to authorize $603 million for an alternate engine program for the F 35 Joint Strike Fighter in the fiscal year (FY) 2010 Defense Authorization bill. The alternate engine program has been the subject of several comprehensive reports that indicate that it is duplicative and unnecessary. According to CBS News, the U.S. Air Force and two independent panels have also concluded that the second engine is “not necessary and not affordable” and that the alleged savings from creating a mock competition “will never be achieved.”
“Even though the Pentagon has repeatedly rejected the alternate engine program, the funding for it has been added back in as unaccountable earmarks,” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. “In the FY 2009 budget, this ill-conceived program got two earmarks for a total of $465 million and they were among the 142 anonymous earmarks slipped into the Defense Appropriations bill. In an era of tough economic times and deficit spending, it is impossible to justify spending $603 million on a program that will not save money or improve our defense capabilities,” said Schatz.
The Pentagon has tried to cancel the $7.2 billion alternate engine project every year since 2006 but members of Congress have kept it alive with earmarks.
“Now that Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) has emerged as a vocal proponent of this boondoggle, we may at least begin to find out who was behind the anonymous earmarks last year,” continued Schatz. “This year, taxpayers may have an alternative of their own, because President Obama singled out the alternate engine program for elimination on May 7, 2009 when he announced his intention to cut $17 billion in wasteful programs from the budget. This will be his first test. If the funding for the alternate engine program ultimately reaches his desk, he will finally be able to make good on his promise to cut wasteful spending by vetoing the bill,” concluded Schatz.
CCAGW is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.