The Senate proposed to the House behind closed doors Wednesday night that Congress approve continuing with the F-22 fighter but finance the near-term program with research rather than production money. This would give Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., an opponent of the program, and his allies a face-saver. Lewis chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
National Journal News Service reported the offer was put on the table by Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who has vowed to save the F-22, the air superiority fighter that President Clinton and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have characterized as a must-have for the threats of the 21st century.
Lewis reacted positively to the offer, which is expected to be adopted when House and Senate conferees resume their consideration of rival FY2000 defense appropriations bills Thursday.
Lewis came to the conference Wednesday armed with the House's 379-45 vote on July 22 to deny the $1.8 billion the Air Force has requested to buy the first six production models from Lockheed Martin Corp.
Counting the two test models already flying, the Air Force hopes to buy 341 F-22s for just under $200 million each, counting research and development costs.
But administration vote counters said that the House action on the production money would be reversed if put to a vote again in the House and for the first time in the Senate.
Stevens did not want to humiliate Lewis, according to congressional insiders, and came up with the idea of doubling the $1.2 billion both chambers had approved for continuing research and engineering work on the stealthy fighter.
Under Steven's proposal, Lockheed Martin, builder of the F-22, would not get the $1.8 billion in production money but would receive instead $1.2 billion additional for further engineering and flight testing plus $227 million in advanced procurement funds to gear up for full-scale production.
Both Stevens and Lewis agreed during the closed-door conference, participants told National Journal News Service, that the plan would cause a big increase in the cost of the F-22 program in FY2001 and FY2002.
"We'll still get the airplane," said one administration official, disappointed in not obtaining the production money. "But now it's going to cost more and we'll be blamed for breaking through the money ceilings."
The Lewis proposal, which preceded Stevens' offer, was to build two additional test aircraft. Two are already flying. Stevens said that the F-22 is already "the most reviewed aircraft in history," according to participants.
The Stevens plan "is just putting a different skirt" on the original Air Force plan, said one member of Congress.
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