Norman D. Dicks: “I am somewhat surprised that we are on the floor today attacking the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter Program. The Air…”

“I am somewhat surprised that we are on the floor today attacking the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter Program. The Air Force has said that this is the most sophisticated and yet the best program that it has managed in many, many years. I have had Darleen Druyun, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, up to the office. She feels, as the contractors also feel, that this program is moving along very, very smoothly. The one thing they are concerned about is, if Congress makes a major reduction in the funding profile for this, that you will have a delay, a major delay, in the contract, and it has already stretched out too far as far as I am concerned. I believe that you could move this program forward more rapidly. People say, ``Well, we don't have enough money to do this.'' Well, I would take issue with that. This year and last year, I asked our very able staff on the Defense Subcommittee how much did we cut out just in every line item, going through this budget as we do in enormous detail, and the same number came up, and that is about $3.5 billion. The low-priority items are cut out by the Defense Subcommittee when doing our oversight responsibility. I believe with that, and if we supplemented the C-17 with a nondevelopmental aircraft, we could not only fund the F-22 but we could also fund the B-2. I also think we have got to make priority decisions.”