from Senator Miller.

With Congressional Democratic leaders and an Administration that is spending trillions of taxpayer dollars that the U.S. doesn’t have, one would think that $360 million for a program guaranteed to provide American jobs wouldn’t cause President Obama to even blink an eye. But instead of supporting an important Department of Defense priority that employs thousands of people, the President has threatened to veto the entire $680 billion Defense Authorization bill if it includes any funding for the F-22 fighter jet program.

The F-22 Raptor is a vital part of our national defense strategy. A fifth-generation fighter aircraft utilizing stealth technology, it was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional roles that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence capabilities. The U.S. maintains or has under construction 187 of these fighters, and military leaders continue to express the need for more F-22s. U.S. Air Force General John D.W. Corley stated in a letter to Senator Saxby Chambliss that cessation of the F-22 program “puts execution of our current national military strategy at high risk,” and he advocates for an ideal inventory of 381 Raptors.

The President and Secretary of Defense need to listen to their top military commanders, like General Corley, in order to ensure the Air Force remains a world air power and is not reduced to a regional air power. I expect our uniformed leaders to do their Constitutional duty and stand up to this Secretary, despite his record of removing those who disagree with him. Maintaining our world air dominance and independent advice to the Congress from our military is imperative.

Equally as important as preserving world air dominance is that the construction of the F-22 provides 95,000 American jobs across 27 states. These jobs are high-paying, high-quality jobs—just what we need to be providing in the current economic climate. These jobs, however, seem to not matter to the current Administration.

Unfortunately, the President is bent on reducing funds for our military in order to free up money for a $1 trillion government-run health care plan, a government takeover of General Motors, and more economic “stimulus.” To put these numbers in perspective, the United States could build 5,725 brand new F-22’s, employing 3 million Americans to do it, with the money obligated in the first stimulus bill. Interestingly enough, 3 million more Americans are unemployed today than were at the beginning of the President’s term.

We were promised millions of new jobs from the first stimulus, yet unemployment is nearing ten percent. Less than ten percent of the stimulus bill funds have been spent so far. And where has the government decided to spend this taxpayer money? Amtrak. Another government-owned operation. Amtrak received $91 million in the stimulus bill to upgrade a few passenger cars. The total price tag to upgrade each car? $687,000, or roughly $12,000 per seat. This is on top of billions of dollars of government subsidies Amtrak receives every year just to stay solvent.

The President is willing to veto the entire defense budget over an F-22 program extension that will cost a tenth of what we provide Amtrak in subsidies each year. It’s time the government stopped trying to run our car companies and our health care system and instead invest in American jobs, the American people, and our American future.

well said now lets see how many others will stand up for it

Poof