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WASHINGTON: House Democrats' Iraq war funding bill would deny the Bush administration's request for money to buy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and EA-18 attack airplanes, according to a summary of the legislation.
“The bill denies funding for two Joint Strike Fighter purchases (by the Air Force) and five of the six EA-18G electronic attack airplanes (for the Navy) being requested” by the Bush administration, the House Appropriations panel summary said.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighters are to be built by a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp.. Boeing is building the EA-18 electronic attack aircraft.
The House Democrats' summary said the funds were being denied “because they would not be used to directly replace aircraft lost in battle (in Iraq or Afghanistan). In the case of the Joint Strike Fighter, these aircraft would not be delivered to the Air Force until 2012 and would only be used as training aircraft.”
The approximately $100 billion Congress is expected to approve this spring is supposed to be emergency funding the Pentagon urgently needs to continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and not intended to fund other Pentagon purchases.
The Bush administration had argued that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would replace F-16s lost in Iraq. It acknowledged those replacement aircraft could not be immediately procured and sent into combat.
