Lambasting defense “waste,” President Obama came to the Rose Garden this afternoon to take a little victory lap, his first veto threat – against a defense bill that until minutes ago contained $1.75 billion in funding for the F-22 “Raptor” fighter jet – having worked.
“I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense products to keep this nation secure,” the president declared, saying he was “grateful” the Senate voted to kill the F-22 fighter jets “that military experts and members of both parties say we do not need.”
Budgeting, the president said, “is a zero-sum game,” with “every dollar of waste…a dollar we can't spend to support our troops or prepare for future threats or protect the American people.”
“If more money goes to F-22s, it is our troops and our citizens who lose,” the president said, calling further funding of the F-22, targeted for elimination by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, “an inexcusable waste of money.”
The president singled out the chair and ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and former election opponent John McCain, R-Ariz., for leading the charge against the F-22. He also thanked Gates and “every member of Congress who put politics aside to do what is right.”
No comments:
Post a Comment