Congress and the F-22

The U.S. Congress is battling the Pentagon over a $140 item--not a toilet seat this time, but money that Congress wants to go to the suppliers of the F-22 Raptor project in order to keep the Lockheed-Martin assembly line open. So says the Wall Street Journal this morning. And get this: it's Congress that wants to spend the money, and the Pentagon that's being thrifty. (Well, not thrifty exactly. Sec/Defense Robert Gates is a foe of next-waritis; he wants to conserve resources for the sort of combat we face in Iraq and Afghanistan.) And the Congressional blowout is bipartisan, which ought to cheer those who feel that American politics have become too divisive in recent years: the October 31 letter to Bob Gates was signed by Ike Sketon (D-Mo), Duncan Hunter (R-Ca), Neil Abercrombie (D-Hi), and Jim Saxton (R-NJ). It used to be that politics ended at the water's edge. Now it ends at the pork barrel. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford