A-10 aircraft clear a big hurdle in Pentagon budget process

The A-10 aircraft, including those from Selfridge Air National Guard Base currently battling ISIS militants in Iraq and Syria, have cleared another hurdle as the defense bill approved today by the House would keep the “Warthogs” funded through fiscal year 2016.
The $612 billion Defense National Authorization Act (NDAA) adopted by the House on an unusually close 269-151 vote, blocks the Air Force’s aggressive moves to retire the entire fleet of approximately 300 A-10s, which provide low-altitude air support on the battlefield.  

In a statement, Congresswoman Candice Miller said that the House vote was an important milestone for the A-10s but an upcoming Senate vote and additional Pentagon spending votes later this year still represent potential problems.

“The recent deployment of A-10s out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base (in Harrison Township) -- along with A-10s from Indiana -- to the Middle East to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria is testament to the aircraft’s effectiveness in theater and its role in our national defense,” said Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, in a statement. “However, notwithstanding its success and the troops on the ground who rely on its air coverage, this administration has repeatedly tried to retire the fleet.
“Fortunately, thus far, each attempt has been met with overwhelming opposition in Congress, and … for those of us who have fought for the A-10 over the years, today’s vote was another important victory, but it is only a step in what will be another hard-fought battle to keep the A-10s operating.”

The political battle of recent days in the House over the defense bill has focused on other matters than the A-10s as President Obama threatens to veto the measure.

According to the Associated Press, the White House has pushed back against a host of provisions in the bill, including one that would make it harder for Obama to close the military prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay by imposing stiffer requirements for transferring these individuals to other countries. On Ukraine, it calls for arming Ukrainian forces fighting Russian-backed separatists, a move the Obama administration has so far resisted.
On the issue of fighting ISIS, the administration also opposes measures in the House legislation that aim to bypass the Iraqi government and give money directly to Iraqi Kurdish fighters. That has angered Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who threatened to attack U.S. interests if the provision passes, AP reported.

The upcoming Senate version of the military funding bill follows nearly the same approach as the House. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-4 on Thursday to authorize $523 billion in basic funding for the Defense Department and other national security programs and an additional $90.2 billion for an emergency war-fighting fund.

That war fund lies at the center of a bitter feud between House Republicans and Democrats.

House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday blasted the Democrats who opposed the bill, saying they are “turning their backs on American troops.”

According to The Hill, Boehner added that Democrats should “give our troops the support they deserve as they put their lives on the line to keep Americans safe.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who had been lobbying for votes against the bill from fellow Democrats, said she sees the GOP trying to dodge the “sequester” spending cuts imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act for the Pentagon, but not for other programs in the overall federal budget.

Republicans are using the $89 billion set aside in the separate war fund, she said, as “virtual slush fund for one part of the budget, while letting the ax fall on everything else” on the domestic side.
The Hill reported that the top-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith of Washington State, later fired back at Boehner, saying in a statement that the speaker opposed the annual NDAA in 2009 and again in 2010.
Smith said he was "sure" Boehner had his reasons to oppose the bill then but "it is hypocritical and the height of shameless partisan pandering for him to now claim that a vote against the NDAA is a vote against the troops. It is not."

At the same time, Miller cautioned that attempts on Capitol Hill to divest funding for the A-10, despite the attack jets unique capabilities and cost-efficiency, are not over.

“I expect some will attempt to retire the fleet through the upcoming appropriations process,” she said. “As I have done in the past, I will continue to fight efforts to divest the fleet until the Air Force identifies a follow-on aircraft that can protect combat troops on the ground as well as the A-10 does.”