House Killed Funding For Pork Boehner Wanted To Bring Home

House Speaker John Boehner has already shown his indifference to jobs. He apparently doesn’t want budget cuts, either, if the cuts come from his district.

Today’s surprising House vote to kill the extra engine for the supersonic F-35 is another sign that it’s not exactly business as usual in Washington. For the second time in a week, Republicans bucked their new House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

“I think it’s our obligation that we’re not going to go along with leadership on everything they put forth,” Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) said in advance of the vote.

First, fiscal conservatives forced Boehner to make much deeper cuts in their proposed budget for the rest of the year. Today, on the jet engine, which Boehner supports, they sided instead with Tea-Party-backed Tom Rooney (R-Fla.).

And this is something the Pentagon says it doesn’t want.

The spare engine for the F-35 has become a posterchild for government waste. The military doesn’t want it; Presidents Obama and Bush have said it’s not necessary. But Congress shoved it back into the budget every year starting in 2007. Made by General Electric, it has cost taxpayers $3 billion so far. Getting rid of it would save $450 million this year alone.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.