White House issues veto threats; House fights loom

The White House has threatened to veto a $636 billion spending bill for the Defence Department, citing funding for F-22 fighters and a much-criticised replacement presidential helicopter. President Barack Obama wants to terminate both programmes.

The White House has threatened to veto a $636 billion spending bill for the Defence Department, citing funding for F-22 fighters and a much-criticised replacement presidential helicopter. President Barack Obama wants to terminate both programmes.

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The measure is slated to come to the House floor on Wednesday. The White House also objected to plans by lawmakers to continue to fund an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but did not seem to explicitly threaten a veto over the $560 million provision.

The veto threats come as the White House and its Democratic allies in control of Congress wrestle over his demands to shut down weapons programmes and other Pentagon procurement.

The administration is carrying the day on ceasing production of additional F-22s after a decisive vote in the Senate last week during debate on a defence policy bill. It also won a big Senate vote against production of a second engine for alternative engines for the next-generation F-35 fighter that are being built by the General Electric Company and Rolls Royce.

The new presidential helicopter programme - a project beset by poor planning and loose Pentagon oversight - is way over budget and the White House strongly opposes $400 million in the House measure that is a down payment toward finishing five of the troubled aircraft, which would be assembled at an upstate New York Lockheed Martin Corp, factory.