In stinging remarks, Pentagon chief says lawmakers are spending more on jets than necessary
By Lara Jakes, APFriday, July 17, 2009
Gates scolds Congress over funding for fighter jet
CHICAGO — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is jeering Congress for wanting to spend millions of dollars on more fighter jets than he says the U.S. actually needs.
Gates made the F-22 funding battle in Washington the focus of a wry and sometimes stinging speech Thursday night to the Economic Club of Chicago.
He chided Congress for accusing the Obama administration of cutting spending on the F-22s — even when the budget’s $534 billion bottom line is an increase from last year.
Gates said the Pentagon’s budget might be more than what the rest of the world, combined, spends on defense. He noted, “Only in Washington, D.C., would that be considered gutting defense.”
A key House Democrat predicts that the F-22 funding increases will survive a veto threat.
