From THE HILL:
Pentagon brass and industry lobbyists are targeting new Tea Party-backed House members in the renewed fight over a second engine for the F-35, placing fiscal hawks at the center of the first major defense debate of 2011.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday issued a public broadside on the alternate-engine project, urging new House members to help him end it. ..
Gates is not the only one reaching out to members who want to make big federal spending cuts. Rolls-Royce and General Electric officials also have been angling for support for their engine, pushing new members to support competition and oppose giving primary F-35 power plant-maker Pratt & Whitney “a monopoly.”
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