House panel votes to slash F-22 funding, raise DoD pay

In a surprise announcement, House leaders said Monday they would not provide funding to buy the first six F-22 advanced Air Force fighter planes next year, LEGI-SLATE News Service reported.

Instead, $3 billion would be diverted to help find alternatives to the F-22, retain a dwindling supply of Air Force pilots and upgrade other aircraft.

Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R- Calif., made the announcement after his panel approved a $266 billion fiscal 2000 Defense spending bill behind closed doors.

That figure represents a $16 billion jump from last year's spending total, and $3 billion more than the President requested.

Lewis said the F-22 Raptor, designed to replace the F-15 air superiority fighter in air-to-air combat, "made sense" when the Air Force was focused on enemies with the ability to produce large numbers of tactically advanced fighters.

But recent wars in the Persian Gulf and Kosovo, where enemy states had depleted and out-classed air forces, "have made it clear that we must also address other needs that have become more pressing," Lewis said after the subcommittee meeting.

The biggest among those problems, Lewis said, is recruitment and retention.

Lewis said about $300 million of the $3 billion requested by the administration for the F-22 in FY2000 would go to a pilot "bonus" program to retain personnel.

The savings would also help the Air Force build an extra five F-15s and eight more F-16s than previously planned, Lewis said.

In addition, $1.2 billion would be fed back into Air Force research and development programs to help find a less costly alternative to the F-22, which many critics say is the aerial equivalent of a Rolls Royce, fancy, painstakingly crafted, but not worth all the effort.

Other provisions in the bill passed by the subcommittee Monday include: a $167 million boost to raise the total military pay raise in FY2000 to 4.8 percent; an additional $258 million over the administration's request for the Defense Department health program; and a $9 billion increase for equipment and weapons modernization programs.