Jonathan Riskind commentary: Engine issue joins Brown, Boehner
Columbus Dispatch — To its bipartisan proponents – from Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio to GOP House Speaker-designate John Boehner of West Chester – spending more money on a "competitive" engine is a boon that ultimately lowers costs, boosts national security, improves the Joint Strike Fighter's reliability and creates hundreds of jobs.
For anyone looking for an example of why killing off earmarks will not be easy, look no further than the debate over the F-35 alternative/competitive engine.
About a thousand of those engine jobs are to be found in Ohio, in General Electric Aviation's plant outside Cincinnati. That's a not-so-subtle clue as to why the liberal Brown and conservative Boehner, normally at loggerheads over just about everything, are singing the same tune about the F-35.
