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The Spectacle Blog
Tim Carney reports in the Washington Examiner.
The tension between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party insurgents erupted on the House floor for the first time Wednesday when 110 GOP representatives — mostly freshmen and some longtime conservative gadflies — broke from their leadership and most of their caucus in order to kill a defense contract. The vote highlighted an establishment-versus-Tea Party split that was glaring during the campaign season, and brought to the fore the uncomfortable question of defense spending. The amendment, killing the contract for a backup engine for the F-35 fighter, passed 233-198 Wednesday, but 130 of the 240 voting Republicans opposed the cut, including House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. This puts the GOP majority and its leadership at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who doesn’t want the backup engine, and former President George W. Bush, who also tried to kill it.
The United States needs a strong military and national defense is a legitimate constitutional function of the federal government. But to argue that every penny of the Pentagon budget is vital to our national defense is like saying we prove our commitment to education by the number of dollars we funnel to the Department of Education.
View all comments (6) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/02/18/the-republican-rift-on-defense
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Sean| 2.18.11 @ 12:23PM
The biggest threat to this country is out of control spending.
Roger Fortier | 2.18.11 @ 4:23PM
Sean, you are correct. You'll see nothing in the National Intelligence Estimate about what, in reality, is the gravest threat to our country.
Too Many Tims| 2.18.11 @ 1:27PM
"Back up engine" Are you kidding me? PORK!
Clint| 2.18.11 @ 1:43PM
If The GOP Ruling Elite Fops want War with We Tea Party Patriots, let it be here & now.
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.
Time To Go Egypt On The GOP Ruling Elite Fops.
Roger Fortier | 2.18.11 @ 4:22PM
There is plenty of pork in DoD, which, like all bureaucracies, is self-perpetuating. One wonders at the ultimate effectiveness of the current speaker of the house if he cannot break the old pork paradigm and instead act in the nation's best interest. Kudos to Antle for his common sense on this complex topic.
PCC| 2.18.11 @ 4:39PM
I'd happily support a bi-partisan deficit reduction plan stipulating that every dollar cut from the Education Department (a $77 billion target of opportunity) would be matched by an equal amount cut from the Defense Department (a $670 billion target of opportunity).