Defense
The trade association that’s been the defense industry’s chief lobbyist fighting sequestration released a poll Tuesday that shows voters overwhelmingly want Congress and the Obama administration to fix sequestration before the November election. – DEFCON Hill
Veterans’ health care funding may be exempt from automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that are due to begin in January, but military health care is not — and a new think-tank report says Congress would have to reprogram $3 billion from other Defense Department budget accounts to fully pay for military health care should the cuts occur. – Military Times
The head of Operational Test and Evaluation tells the Joint Strike Fighter program in a memo that he will not approve a comprehensive testing plan for the aircraft, raising significant questions about the F-35′s progress. The memo may invite close congressional scrutiny as well. – AOL Defense
As war funding goes away, Marines must learn to live with “good enough” in an era of austerity, Commandant James Amos declared [Wednesday] at the National Press Club, saying that even top-priority programs like the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor face the budget axe. – AOL Defense
Interview: Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.) is in line to become the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The 77-year-old Inhofe, the Senate’s only commercial pilot, recently spoke with Aviation Week Congressional Editor Jen DiMascio in his Senate office. – Aviation Week
