Republicans have mixed views as to whether defense spending should be cut. And some senior House Republicans who oppose reductions are concerned that tea party-backed GOP freshmen will unite with liberal Democrats to take a knife to the defense budget,
The Hill reports.
That already happened in miniature last week, when most freshman Republicans joined liberal Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, to dump $450 million from a project for an alternate engine for the F-35 fighter jet.
Veteran Republican lawmakers were shocked that some of the freshmen didn’t know that their districts would benefit from the project.
“One thing we noticed during the alternate engine debate was the new members just did not know about the nuances of the program — they were not informed about the history of the debate,” one House GOP aide told The Hill.
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