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White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that he believed President Barack Obama still intended to veto the National Defense Authorization Act if it includes funding for a controversial fighter jet engine regardless of whether a “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal measure and the DREAM Act provision are attached to the bill.
The Advocate: The DREAM Act may be included, as you know, as part of the defense authorization bill, as well as DADT repeal, will the president — does he still plan on potentially vetoing that defense authorization bill if it includes money for the [alternate] engine?
Gibbs: I know of no position change on our veto threat.
The DREAM Act is important to the immigrant community because it would create a way for undocumented youth who come to America as children to gain permanent residency through either higher education or military service. The pro-LGBT group Immigration Equality has also urged support for the provision, saying it “would benefit countless LGBT youth by providing them with a path to citizenship in the United States.”
Following his initial answer to the question, Gibbs said he would double-check on the status of the veto threat but that the president had “spent an enormous amount of time” working with Defense secretary Robert Gates on the task of “reshaping the way the Pentagon spends money.”
Gates initially started pushing a presidential veto threat for the Joint Stryker Fighter alternate engine program last spring after the House of Representatives voted to include $500 million for the alternate engine in its version of the NDAA.
Just prior to the question, Gibbs told reporters the president had been supportive of the DREAM Act as a senator and that the administration supports it now.
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