Westmoreland Hails the Passage of Amendment to Cut $3B in Wasteful Spending on the F-35 ‘Alternate Engine’ Program

Today, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Continuing Resolution that would strike funding for the duplicative F-35 dual engine. The Continuing Resolution will provide funding for the federal government for the remaining of FY2011, through September 30, 2011. Congressman Westmoreland, joined by a bipartisan group of his colleagues in the House, fought for the passage of the amendment, which will save the American people approximately $450 million in FY2011 alone and is expected to save almost $3 billion over the life of the project, according to estimates by the Department of Defense. Below is Congressman Westmoreland’s statement.

“It’s about time Washington finally woke up and realized one true fact: We are broke. The days of spending money for the sake of spending are over. If we are going to fix this country, we must be ready to roll up our sleeves and make some hard decisions. While having a back-up engine source for the F-35 might be a nice luxury, it’s one we simply cannot afford. But you don’t just have to take my word for it. Both former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama – one Republican and one Democrat – have strongly opposed this wasteful program. On top of that, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not only come out against this program, he has launched an all out PR campaign to end the funding for the extra engine. I am pleased that, after four long years, the House of Representatives today voted in bipartisan fashion against continuing the F-35 alternate engine program. Hopefully this is the last we will see of this program,” stated Westmoreland.