Chambliss Statement on Senate’s Passage of Amendment to Strip F-22 Provision

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today made the following statement regarding the passage of Amendment 1469 to the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act to remove an authorization to procure seven additional F-22s.

“I am obviously disappointed with today’s vote. We’ve been fighting a headwind from the White House and the Pentagon leadership for weeks now. For whatever reason, the White House expended a lot of political capital to seek to terminate the F-22 program. The authorizers and appropriators in the House have spoken in support of additional F-22s. That means this issue will be on the table as we go to conference. We will continue to pursue the potential for foreign military sales of a scaled-down version of the F-22 if interest persists from our strong allies.”