Republican Backbenchers Deal Boehner A Big Blow In The Soft White Underbelly

The Pentagon (Defense Secretary Gates and the Joint Chiefs) and the Air Force were clear as a bell: they do not want a second engine for the F-35 fighters, which already has an engine. But congressmen in the districts where the engine would be built were eager to show that they could bring home the bacon in the form of jobs. And one of those congressmen was House Speaker John Boehner. Another was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Both lobbied against an amendment by backbencher Tom Rooney (R-FL) to strip what amounts to a Boehner earmark out of H.R. 1. The amendment passed 233-198 with 110 Republicans deserting Boehner and Cantor to vote with 123 Democrats in support of Rooney's amendment, removing $450 million in classic military waste and cynical political pork.

The engine program supports around 1,000 jobs in Evendale's G.E. Aviation plant, right next door to Boehnerville. Pelosi and Hoyer kept most of the Democratic caucus together in favor of the amendment, most of the 68 opposing either being lobbyist-driven (like Steve Israel) or having important military pork in their own districts to worry about. Most of the Tea Party Republicans who were elected on pledges to end pork, voted NO but it was interesting to see some of the more wishy-washy and already-sold-out freshmen-- like Steve Stivers (R-OH), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Jon Runyan (R-NJ), Bobby Schilling (R-IL), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Richard Nugent (R-FL), Tom Marino (R-PA), David Rivera (R-FL), Richard Hanna (R-NY), and Trey Gowdy (R-SC)-- joining the House's most notoriously corrupt, unrepentant porky-pigs... the likes of Ken Calvert (R-CA), Don Young (R-AK), Hal Rogers (R-KY), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Bill Young (R-FL), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Charlie Bass (R-NH- back to his old tricks), Darrell Issa (R-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL) and David Dreier (R-CA).

The NY Times had another perspective on the vote Wednesday afternoon, namely that Republicans are ready to talk about cutting the defense budget. That's a weird interpretation when you consider than not only was the Commander-in-Chief opposed to the engine, but so was the brass. I think they're willing to talk about waste and pork, not the kinds of real military cuts needed to end preemptive war policy or even shut down the occupation of Afghanistan.

In a sign that more than half the Republican freshmen are willing to cut military spending, the House voted 233-198 on Wednesday to cancel an alternate fighter jet engine that the Bush and Obama administrations had tried to kill for the last five years.

The vote was another instance in which some of the new legislators, including several affiliated with the Tea Party, broke ranks with the House speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, where the engine provided more than 1,000 jobs.

Of the 87 new Republican members, 47 voted to cancel the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while 40 others voted to keep it alive.

Many of the freshmen Republicans in the House had been hesitant to trim military spending as part of their drive to reduce the nation’s large budget deficits.

But after forcing Mr. Boehner and other Republican leaders to propose greater cuts in domestic programs, they agreed to include $16 billion in military cuts in this year’s spending bill, which is being debated on the floor this week.

Killing the engine would cut an additional $450 million and save up to $3 billion over the next several years.

The Joint Strike Fighter is the nation’s most expensive weapons program, and eliminating the alternate engine would be one of the most noteworthy cancellations this year.

...[T]he votes of the Republican freshmen also broke down just like those of veteran members in both parties, with jobs in their states a primary concern.

For instance, all nine of the freshmen Republicans from Ohio and Indiana voted to save the alternate engine. It is being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce in those states, while Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, is building the other engine in Connecticut.

As for Boehner's hypocrisy... what did you expect? He forced Chris Lee to resign because he posted a picture of himself shirtless with a randy solicitation on Craig's List but refuses to comment on widespread allegations that he himself was having not one, but two extra-marital affairs, one with a House employee and one with a lobbyist who worked on getting him to shut down the U.S. paper industry and ship it to low wage hellholes like China. So what's a little pork for someone screaming for years how he's against it?