By Emelie Rutherford
A key Senate committee did not fund a controversial jet engine program in legislation it approved yesterday, though the panel’s chairman signaled he remains supportive of the effort that has an uncertain fate.
The Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee (SAC-D) marked up a $669.9 billion fiscal year 2011 defense appropriations bill yesterday that is $8.1 billion short of the White House’s $678.2 billion budget request. The budget-setting legislation, which the full Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will take up tomorrow, does not fund the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s second engine, developed by General Electric [GE] and Rolls-Royce, which is an alternate to the main engine developed by Pratt & Whitney [UTX]. The SAC, which has the same leadership as the SAC-D, is not expected to make major changes to the bill.
The version of the budget legislation the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) approved in July funds the second engine, which Congress in recent years has funded over White House objections. The alternate engine still could be funded in the final appropriations bill if the Senate votes to add it to the bill on the Senate floor, or if House and Senate negotiators agree to put it in the final legislation sent to the White House.
SAC-D Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) acknowledged yesterday senators could attempt to add the engine to the appropriations bill via a Senate floor amendment.
“I’ve got to wait on that,” Inouye told reporters at the Capitol when asked if he would support such an amendment.
“I’ve been supporting it all along,” the SAC-D and SAC chairman said about the second engine. Inouye’s support will remain, he said, “unless I’m otherwise convinced.”
The White House has threatened to veto legislation that supports continuing the alternate engine or buying more of Boeing‘s [BA] C-17 cargo aircraft.
The SAC-D bill would not buy any more C-17s.
The measure would cut from the administration’s request:
- 10 of Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] F-35s, lowering the number from 42 to 32, with six for the Navy, 10 for the Marine Corps, and 16 for the Air Force;
- one of two requested Littoral Combat Ship, at a cost of $615 million; and
- funding for Conventional Trident Modification efforts.
The SAC-D legislation would add funding to the Obama administration’s proposed Pentagon budget for items including:
- Army helicopters (including, in the base defense bill, an additional 12 UH-60 Black Hawks and 6 CH-47 Chinooks);
- Standard Missile-3 Block IA interceptors (13, valued at $121 million); and
- modifications to Stryker vehicles, giving them double-V hulls (at a cost of $128 million).
The panel’s bill would fund the administration’s request for developing the Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle and Brigade Combat Team Modernization efforts, as well as the request for purchasing F/A-18E/F Hornet jets, E/A-18 Growler jets, and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
The SAC-D called for funding reliability testing for the Marine Corps’ developmental Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, but “provides for termination costs in the event of test failure,” according to a bill summary. The panel’s bill funds technology development efforts for the Army-Marine Corps developmental Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program, but “defers follow-on development funding,” the summary says.
The SAC-D’s $669.9 bill includes $157.7 billion in war funding for FY ’11, which starts Oct. 1. The war-funding portion of the legislation adds to the administration’s request monies for MQ-9 Reapers unmanned aerial vehicles and Stryker vehicle modifications.