(“Earmarks” are one of my pet peeves also, but in this case it happens to be one of my favorite senators – Sharrod Brown. And I certainly can understand his apparent reasoning – Ohio can not afford to loose any more jobs! Where is the “greater good” if we ALL allow our thinking to go down this path? Jan)
Pentagon wants Ohio jet project halted
CINCINNATI — The Defense Department yesterday ordered work to stop on an alternate engine being developed at a GE Aviation plant in southwestern Ohio for the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.
The Obama administration and the department say the program is a waste of money, and the president’s fiscal 2012 budget proposal to Congress does not include funding for it.
GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy said the Defense Department took action with Congress still working to complete the 2011 budget, and the company will continue to “self-fund the project.” The program is linked to about 1,000 jobs at the GE Aviation plant in the Cincinnati suburb of Evendale. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who strongly supports the program, said the Senate’s approval last week of a stopgap appropriations bill fully funds programs — including the engine program — at previous levels through April 8.
Eliminating funds for the Joint Strike Fighter wastes billions of taxpayer dollars and threatens national security, Brown said. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the Obama administration is “attempting an end run around Congress” and that he would work to restore funding. “Competition, not sole-sourced contracts, is what will drive down costs and serve the taxpayers’ best interest in the long run,” Portman said in a statement.
