Tea Party clashes with GOP establishment over defense

Maybe -- just maybe -- some common sense will prevail. From Timothy Carney at the Washington Examiner:

The tension between the Republican establishment and the Tea Party insurgents erupted on the House floor for the first time Wednesday when 110 GOP representatives -- mostly freshmen and some longtime conservative gadflies -- broke from their leadership and most of their caucus in order to kill a defense contract. The vote highlighted an establishment-versus-Tea Party split that was glaring during the campaign season, and brought to the fore the uncomfortable question of defense spending. The amendment, killing the contract for a backup engine for the F-35 fighter, passed 233-198 Wednesday, but 130 of the 240 voting Republicans opposed the cut, including House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. This puts the GOP majority and its leadership at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who doesn't want the backup engine, and former President George W. Bush, who also tried to kill it.

This is like the 17 C-17s that were forced on the Air Force, which said  it had enough cargo aircraft to fulfiill its missions. And once these expensive (about $200 million each) aircraft are built, they have to be funded with parts and maintenance, crews, fuel, etc. But it was Congress who decided to have them built.

We need to get away from this kind of stuff if we're ever going to get our finances in order.