"Mass. push saves costly engine plan; Lawmakers protect jobs at GE in Lynn despite Obama call to ax program" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | December 23, 2009
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts lawmakers, over the fierce objections of the White House, have succeeded in reviving a costly plan to build a jet fighter engine at General Electric’s Lynn plant in an effort to protect thousands of Bay State jobs.
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And we are allegedly proud of our "antiwar" political bent?
What an ILLUSION!!!!
When President Obama urged Congress earlier this year to cancel a series of major weapons programs deemed no longer needed, he specifically cited the effort to build a backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “We’re going to save money by eliminating unnecessary defense programs that do nothing to keep us safe - but rather prevent us from spending money on what does keep us safe,’’ Obama said in May. “One example is a $465 million program to build an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter. The engine it has works. The Pentagon does not want - and does not plan to use - the alternate version.’’
Also see: The Globe's Garbage Gates
But while Congress was ultimately persuaded to adopt most of Obama’s proposed weapons cuts - including canceling the F-22 fighter program - the GE program was rescued with the aid of several Massachusetts lawmakers who lobbied behind the scenes. It marked the fourth year in a row that Bay State lawmakers joined other lawmakers with GE jobs in their states to save the project from the Pentagon’s budget ax.
Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that GE officials had told his office that 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts will be saved or maintained once full production begins on the backup engine. “There will also be some jobs gained, but maintaining jobs right now is very important,’’ he said yesterday, defending his efforts to persuade fellow lawmakers, including the highly influential Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, to overturn Obama’s proposal in a final vote on Saturday.
Also see: Murtha's Money Machine
War Looter's Wednesday: The Mirth of Murtha
Slow Saturday Special: MIC Captures Marcy Kaptur
It's a cesspool of corruption down there, isn't it?
Inouye chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, while Murtha oversees a House panel with jurisdiction over defense spending. Kerry also used his influence with the White House to get it to back off a threatened presidential veto. He told the Globe that he ultimately got assurances from Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, that the president would not veto the fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations bill if the money for the engine was included. Obama signed the bill, which totals $626 billion, on Monday.
Personally, all this inside baseball makes me sick, and exposes these sham "peace" politicians for what they are. Self-serving looters who are profiting from all this.
Related: The Secrets of Obama
Just thought you should see what he signed.
The F-35, which is under development by prime contractor
Oh, so LOCKHEED MARTIN is going to BENEFIT from the liberal Massachusetts' looting largesse, huh?T
The United States plans to buy an estimated 2,400 jets, which will come in three versions: a traditional fighter, one that can operate off the deck of an aircraft carrier, and a third designed for the Marines that can take off and land vertically.
And HOW MUCH is this going to COST, America?
Is the EMPIRE, MILITARISM, and the ENDLESS WARS based on LIES worth it to ENRICH a FEW WAR LOOTERS and their political servants worth it?!!
The primary engine for the jet is being built by Pratt & Whitney, a division of Hartford-based
Yeah, somehow all the cost overruns, etc, etc, have managed to save us money over at the Pentagon. Puh-leeze!!!!
However, the Pentagon began actively resisting the second engine for the F-35 in 2006 after it concluded that the investment was not worth the cost and the money would be better spent on other priorities. The project has since grown increasingly controversial in Congress, as well....
But it GETS FUNDED!
Nothing BETTER to do with that money, 'eh, America?
When both chambers had to come up with a final version earlier this month that the money was included. The backup engine is seen as critical to the long-term health of GE’s military engine business in Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, and other states where it has large manufacturing facilities. GE is working with Britain’s
Yeah, GE needs your help, taxpayers!
Still, Massachusetts boosters of the project maintain their support is not just about jobs. Kerry, along with Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr. and Representative John Tierney of Salem, assert that producing a second engine will ultimately save taxpayers money. Tierney said in a statement that the move “spurs competition and is expected to drive down costs.’’
UN-FLIPPING-REAL!
Yup, BUILDING an engine the Pentagon neither needs nor wants is going to SAVE US MONEY!
That THUMPING you hear is George Orwell doing the whirling dervish in his coffin, folks!!!
But a variety of defense specialists and a series of Pentagon and congressional studies have concluded that the billions of dollars it will cost to develop and build the GE engine are unlikely to be recouped for decades, if ever.
Translation: You are NOT SAVING ANYTHING, America -- and the SLIMY S***TERS form Massachusetts are TELLING FLAT-OUT LIES!!!
The alternate engine program “requires a large up-front investment for benefits that won’t be realized for decades,’’ concluded an assessment by the Congressional Research Service earlier this year, estimating that to date $2.5 billion has been spent on the project, not including the money added for next year. “These factors arise in an environment where [the Pentagon] is facing tough financial choices while on a war-footing.’’
Fiscal watchdog groups have been even more critical of Congress’s insistence that the project continue. The nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense called the latest decision to spend nearly $500 million more for the project next year the “most egregious example of Congress having its cake and eating it too.’’
And you have MassachuSHITts to thank for it, America!!!!
I now see why my home state has such a horrible -- and deservedly so -- reputation with the rest of the country.
HOW EMBARRASSING and SHAMING for ME!!!
Well, it looks like the banks and war looters had a good Xmas; how about you?
