WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has won a showdown vote in the GOP-controlled House to kill a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon’s next-generation fighter jet.
The vote is a switch from where the House stood last year under Democratic control. A wave of Republican freshmen elected on campaign promises to cut the budget made the difference. Many taxpayer watchdog groups weighed in against the $3 billion engine program.
The move was a loss for House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, whose state reaped thousands of jobs from the engine, built by General Electric Co. and Rolls-Royce.
It was a big victory for lawmakers from Connecticut, where the main F-35 fighter engine is built by Pratt & Whitney. Former President George W. Bush had also tried to kill the second engine.