We need a poster child for the deficit hypocrisy embedded deep into every battle field on deficit reduction and priorities.
My nomination would be for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
An excellent primer on the issue was written by Dominic Tierney of Atlantic Magazine: The F-35: A Weapon That Costs More Than Australia
Here are the eye popping price tags:
- Each plane clocks in at around $90 million.
- Washington intends to buy 2,443, at a price tag of $382 billion.
- Add in the $650 billion that the Government Accountability Office estimates is needed to operate and maintain the aircraft, and the total cost reaches a staggering $1 trillion.
- In fiscal 2012, the Obama administration requested $9.7 billion for development and procurement of the stealthy, supersonic aircraft.
In other words, we're spending more on this plane than Australia's entire GDP ($924 billion).
Now the Senate plans to follow up on the deficit reduction talks by proposing to hold production at current levels rather than up it by three additional planes:
In a statement released Tuesday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) said the committee would recommend a $695 million cut to the program, postponing production of some aircraft. “We recommend maintaining production at the fiscal year 2011 levels for two more years in order to limit out year cost growth,” Sen. Inouye said. “For each aircraft we build this early in the test program, we will have to pay many millions in the future to fix the problems that are identified in testing.” - Wall Street Journal 9/13/11 - Nathan Hodge Washington Wire
But hold on there...
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, called Friday for increased production of the F-35 joint strike fighter and suggested that its critics, namely Sen. John McCain, visit the mile-long factory on the city's west side before continuing to push for cuts in the Defense Department's largest weapons program. Fort Worth Star Telegram
Granger calls for a larger procurement based on efficiencies?:
Granger said one way to improve the plane's price "is ramping up the production. This plant, with its investment, can produce more and faster, and that's what we need to do."
Yet that's exactly the opposite of Senator Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) says above in the first blockquote. At this phase more is definitlely NOT better.
Then there's Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Georgia plant in production with the F-35 first generation. Losing the three additional planes could mean layoffs or at least no additional possibility to create NEW JOBS for the economy:
“We’re going to fight very hard to hold the line on that,” said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta.
Folks, this is just the Republicans bickering with each other over the boon-doggle:
McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been particularly critical of the F-35 program, which is billions over budget and behind schedule. In a May hearing, he complained that despite spending $56 billion so far, the F-35 "still has not yet been proven to be reliable," and in July he disclosed that the first 28 aircraft alone were $771 million over budget, which he called "outrageous."
Friday, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers responded to Granger, saying McCain "knows the facts surrounding the F-35 joint strike fighter better than any member of Congress and doesn't need any tour from Congresswoman Granger." He added that if Granger "supports wasting taxpayer dollars, that is of course her prerogative." ibid
The proposal, which would cut $695 million from the Pentagon’s $9.7 billion program request, must be merged with a House-passed bill that granted the full amount. bold mine - Atlanta Journal Constitution
So let's summarize why this should be the smell test for deficit hawks vs. plain ol' hawks vs. pork barreled Georgians and Texans.
- "The F-35 is the most expensive defense program in history, and reveals massive cost overruns, a lack of clear strategic thought, and a culture in Washington that encourages incredible waste." - Dominic Tierney
- "The 2010 bipartisan Bowles-Simpson Commission on deficit reduction suggested canceling the Marine Corps's version of the F-35, and halving the number of F-35s for the Air Force and Navy--replacing them with current generation F-16s, which cost one-third as much. This would save close to $30 billion from 2011 to 2015. The plan went nowhere" -ibid
- So the program is still in place but all the Senate is asking (in a very bipartisan way) is that production be held to current levels and even that seems to be too much to ask to help lower the Pentagon budget - "The cuts are part of a first installment of budget cuts outlined in the August deficit-reduction deal. All told, the committee is proposing to trim $26 billion from the Pentagon’s $553 billion fiscal 2012 budget request."
- We are talking $695 million. A pittance in the grand scheme to transfer wealth to our defense contractors and their congress critters.
- If the administration, the Democratic Party and those serious about the absolute priority for budgetary reform cannot tow the line and prevent a few southern Republicans from demanding more boondoggles for a troubled jet fighter program in the form of three additional aircraft then we know that basically the fix is in and this is a complete charade on the part of the leadership in both parties, if the committees efforts of Senator Inouye and McCain are to be ignored in a bipartisan rebuff.
Apart from the battle over deficits in their current manifestations the article by Tierney should be required reading for anyone not outraged by the Pentagon budget in light of our current difficulties to come to terms with economic priorities. This is without going into the costs of War on Terror™, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and top secret domestic surveillance costing close to a trillion $$'s of secret budget requests.
And we can't hold off on three jet fighters.
If you were looking for a poster child, this is it.
Here is the money quote:
In a decade's time, the United States plans to have 15 times as many modern fighters as China, and 20 times as many as Russia.
Outrageous in these times of "austerity".