The President's budget request continues the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program but would end production of the F-22A Raptor at 186 fighters while retiring 250 legacy fighters. These changes will result in what is essentially a deficit between the services' fighter aircraft inventories and their operational requirements based on emerging and possible air threats to U.S. security.
The Constitution is quite specific with regard to the President's responsibilities. The primary (and some would say only) responsibility is the defense of the nation. Democrats have always raided the defense budget to pay for social entitlement programs. Let's hope that a Republican gets into the White House in 2012, if for no other reason than to close this air defense gap before it becomes a hole so cavernous it will take decades to fill.
During the initial years of the war in Iraq, it was the Democrats who screamed about our military not having sufficient equipment to fight the war. Yet it was Clinton who decided not to have old-fashioned equiment like armored tanks. We see again that the Democrats have no hesitation to put the lives of our soldiers (and our battlefield success and defense of our nation) at risk.
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