By Adriel Bettelheim - CQ
President Obama has gone out of his way to defer to Congress on some his biggest legislative priorities in the areas of health care energy education and immigration. And his detached position on the political upheaval in Iran prompted skeptics on Capitol Hill to wonder if the president was leading or allowing events to dictate a response.
Time then for the commander-in-chief to bring out the stick hidden under his desk and silence those questioning his resolve.
On Wednesday Obama issued the first veto threat of his presidency stating he would refuse to sign the Houses version of the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill (HR 2647) if it includes either of two provisions: $369 million in advanced fiscal 2011 procurement funds for the F-22 aircraft or $603 million for development and procurement of the alternative engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Both programs were targeted in the Pentagon spending shift Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates laid out in April as part of an effort to move away from large-scale conventional warfare and focus on irregular conflicts like those the United States is waging in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In its veto message the administration said the number of F-22 stealth fighters should be capped at 187 and that the alternative engine program for the Joint Strike Fighter would add delays to the planes overall development effort. The administration noted that the aircrafts current engine is performing after more than 11000 test hours.
The administration also took issue with language in the spending bill that would limit F-35 development funds to 75 percent of the total authorized until the Defense Department spends all of the funds provided in the fiscal 2010 bill for the alternative engine.
The message appeared to be conciliation has its limits especially in areas where the administration is trying to demonstrate it can control government spending. Now the commander-in-chief can sit back and listen to appeals from weapons makers who contend large scale cuts like the administration is proposing will cost American jobs particularly in high-paying specialized trades critical to national defense.
