Panel funds F-22 program Defense wants cut

WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- Pentagon appropriators in the U.S. House ignored a threatened veto by President Barack Obama and voted to keep the F-22 fighter jet program Thursday.

The defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee also ignored other cuts the administration had proposed to several Pentagon programs, The Hill reported.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the subcommittee chairman, acknowledged the threatened veto and said if Congress couldn't override it on the F-22 program, "We'll back down on the damn thing."

Murtha unveiled his subcommittee's decisions, but the full Appropriations Committee still must approve them, the Washington publication said. The full committee is scheduled to consider the bill Wednesday.

The defense subcommittee approved a $636.3 billion Pentagon spending bill for 2010, $3.8 billion below the Pentagon's request. The spending bill includes $128.3 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had proposed cuts, in part to demonstrate the need to revamp the Defense Department's procurement practices and priorities.

"The secretary is pleased with the committee's overall support for department needs, but he is disappointed it has chosen to give us money for things we do not need any more of, such as F-22s, or need at all, like a second engine for the F-35," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in a statement.

House lawmakers also ignored Obama's request for funds to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because of the lack of a plan on the transfer of detainees to other facilities, the Hill reported.