July 15, 2014

Dear Senator:

This week the Senate Appropriations Committee began its consideration of H.R. 4870, the appropriations bill for the Department of Defense. We urge you to reject any attempts to increase funding for the F-35.

As passed by the House of Representatives, the bill would spend an additional $479 million on four more F-35 aircraft than requested by the Pentagon. This additional money is on top of the $8 billion the Pentagon requested for procurement, R&D, and military construction for the F-35 across the three services planning to eventually fly the plane.

At Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), we are happy the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee did not follow the House lead and increase F-35 funding.

It is a relief to see this small amount of restraint in funding for this monstrously expensive aircraft. We recently wrote a report on the budget history and common sense alternatives to the F-35.  Last week TCS published an opinion piece in U.S. News and World Report on the topic.

TCS urges the full Senate Appropriations Committee to continue to reject the House attempt to add even more money to the F-35. In fact we believe this program is ripe for reductions.

Please stand firm against any attempt to add funds to the F-35 program. If you have any questions please contact me or Wendy Jordan, 202-546-8500 or Wendy@taxpayer.net.

Sincerely,

Ryan Alexander

President

Taxpayers for Common Sense