The US Senate voted Tuesday to strip funding for the purchase of additional F-22 fighter jets, handing President Barack Obama a victory in his effort gain control over Pentagon spending, dpa reported. The 58-40 vote removed 1.75 billion dollars from a 680-billion- dollar defence policy bill Obama had threatened to veto if the money was not taken out. "This would have been an inexcusable waste of money," Obama said shortly after the vote. The vote for now caps production of the F-22 Raptors at the 187 already planned. But Obama still has a fight in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers have added 369 million dollars as a downpayment on 12 more F-22s. The Senate appropriations panel has yet to vote on the issue.
