THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507220015
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
The latest installment in the long-running B-2 saga is a depressing reminder that some things never change. A Republican Congress ostensibly dedicated to fiscal responsibility is up to the same old business as usual.
The B-2 has never lived up to its advance billing. It is not as stealthy as advertised. It has been plagued by technical glitches. The Cold War mission for which it was designed can be better accomplished by other weapons systems, but the end of the Cold War has rendered the mission and the bomber obsolete.
All that would be damning enough, but the B-2 is also unaffordably expensive at $2.2 billion a plane. Yet the plane's subcontracts have been farmed out to so many congressional districts that killing the turkey has proved impossible.
It isn't for lack of trying. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has impeccable defense credentials, yet he calls the B-2 a relic and opposes spending more on it. The Pentagon wants no more than the 20 planes now planned and would like to forget it ever got involved with this albatross.
No matter. House Republicans plan to spend at least another $16 billion to buy 20 more planes. Yet they no longer have a clearly defined mission and no one wants them except those employed in their manufacture.
That isn't the kind of policy a Republican majority was elected to pursue. National security shouldn't be treated like a jobs program, nor the defense budget regarded as one big pork barrel. Billions spent on this dud will be diverted from legitimate defense needs and stolen form the pocket of the long-suffering taxpayer.
The B-2 program deserves to be terminated with extreme prejudice. And taxpayers need to let Republicans know that their vote on this boondoggle will be carefully watched - and remembered. by CNB