In a victory for President Barack Obama, the US House of Representatives voted Wednesday to kill funding for a costly alternate engine for the F-35 fighter aircraft that the Pentagon did not want.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said through his spokesman that he was "gratified" by the 223-198 vote against an amendment that would have provided $450 million for the second engine.
"It would be a waste of nearly $3 billion in a time of economic distress, and the money is needed for higher-priority defence efforts," Gates told members of Congress earlier in the day. The second F-35 engine was to be built by General Electric and Rolls Royce as an alternative in case the primary engine built by Pratt & Whitney failed.
The amendment was one of some 500 attached to a bill to cover US spending needs over the seven remaining months of the 2011 fiscal year.
Republican majority leader Eric Cantor said debate on the spending bill would be wrapped up in the House by Thursday evening. Debate then moves to the Senate, where Democrats have the majority.
The second engine was to be built in Indiana and Ohio, the home state of House speaker John Boehner.
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