Appealing Letters

The 10 additional C-17s Congress wants the Pentagon to buy in fiscal year 2010 will cost $100 million annually to operate, a sum that will “invariably reduce critical warfighting capability somewhere else in the defense program,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Pete Orszag, argues in an Oct. 13 letter to key members of the House and Senate appropriations committees.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterates many points in Orszag's missive in a heartburn appeal to the same lawmakers dated Oct. 14. Both letters warn that President Obama will likely veto the FY-10 defense appropriations bill if it in any way funds the VH-71 presidential helicopter program or the Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine program.