Some Florida lawmakers aren’t too happy about President-Elect Donald Trump’s tweet criticizing what he calls the “out of control” costs for the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program.
Currently, 45 states use the F-35 fighter jet program. That includes Florida, especially the military-filled northern area. That’s why Sen. Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville) says she’s concerned about Trump’s proposal to defund the program. As the new head of the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security committee, Gibson wants a presentation done on the F-35 program’s importance to Florida.
“If I had read the article before about the F-35, we might have done that today,” said Gibson, during Tuesday's committee hearing. “But, I want to make sure we have a presentation on the possibility of getting some of the fighters in Jacksonville, in particular, and the state of Florida in general.”
For 2017, Gibson also hopes to get an update on the status of Florida veterans’ health care as well as follow up on the progress of a state law to help more veterans become entrepreneurs.
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