Editing Northrop B-2 Spirit (section)

===Opposition===
In its consideration of the fiscal year 1990 defense budget, the House Armed Services Committee trimmed $800&nbsp;million from the B-2 research and development budget, while at the same time staving off a motion to end the project. Opposition in committee and in Congress was mostly broad and bipartisan, with Congressmen [[Ron Dellums]] (D-CA), [[John Kasich]] (R-OH), and [[John G. Rowland]] (R-CT) authorizing the motion to end the project—as well as others in the Senate, including [[Jim Exon]] (D-NE) and [[John McCain]] (R-AZ) also opposing the project.<ref name=Schmitt>Schmitt, Eric. [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/14/us/key-senate-backer-of-stealth-bomber-sees-it-in-jeopardy.html?pagewanted=1 "Key Senate Backer of Stealth Bomber Sees It in Jeopardy."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306122801/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/14/us/key-senate-backer-of-stealth-bomber-sees-it-in-jeopardy.html?pagewanted=1 |date=6 March 2016}} ''The New York Times'', 14 September 1991. Retrieved 23 July 2009.</ref> Dellums and Kasich, in particular, worked together from 1989 through the early 1990s to limit production to 21 aircraft and were ultimately successful.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Torry |first1=Jack |last2=Wehrman |first2=Jessica |title=Kasich still touts opposition to stealth bomber |url=https://www.dispatch.com/article/20150706/NEWS/307069768 |work=Columbus Dispatch |access-date=13 April 2020 |date=6 July 2015 |archive-date=25 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025031202/https://www.dispatch.com/article/20150706/NEWS/307069768 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The escalating cost of the B-2 program and evidence of flaws in the aircraft's ability to elude detection by radar<ref name=Schmitt/> were among factors that drove opposition to continue the program. At the peak production period specified in 1989, the schedule called for spending US$7&nbsp;billion to $8&nbsp;billion per year in 1989 dollars, something Committee Chair [[Les Aspin]] (D-WI) said "won't fly financially".<ref name=Sorenson_p168>{{harvnb|Sorenson|1995|p=168}}</ref> In 1990, the Department of Defense accused Northrop of using faulty components in the [[Aircraft flight control system|flight control system]]; it was also found that redesign work was required to reduce the risk of damage to engine fan blades by bird ingestion.<ref>"Moisture in sensors led to stealth bomber crash, Air Force report says." ''Kansas City Star'', 5 June 2008.</ref>

In time, several prominent members of Congress began to oppose the program's expansion, including Senator [[John Kerry]] (D-MA), who cast votes against the B-2 in 1989, 1991, and 1992. By 1992, Bush had called for the cancellation of the B-2 and promised to cut military spending by 30% in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.<ref>[http://www.factcheck.org/zell_millers_attack_on_kerry_a_little.html "Zell Miller's Attack on Kerry: A Little Out Of Date."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714102157/http://www.factcheck.org/zell_millers_attack_on_kerry_a_little.html |date=14 July 2007}} ''FactCheck.org'', 4 October 2004. Retrieved 26 October 2004.</ref> In October 1995, former [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]], [[Michael E. Ryan|General Mike Ryan]], and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General [[John Shalikashvili]], strongly recommended against Congressional action to fund the purchase of any additional B-2s, arguing that to do so would require unacceptable cuts in existing conventional and nuclear-capable aircraft,<ref>Bender, Brian and John Robinson. "More Stealth Bombers Mean Less Combat Power". ''Defense Daily'', 5 August 1997, p. 206.</ref> and that the military had greater priorities in spending a limited budget.<ref>''US General Accounting Office'' September 1996, p. 70.</ref>

Some B-2 advocates argued that procuring twenty additional aircraft would save money because B-2s would be able to deeply penetrate anti-aircraft defenses and use low-cost, short-range attack weapons rather than expensive standoff weapons. However, in 1995, the [[Congressional Budget Office]] (CBO) and its Director of National Security Analysis found that additional B-2s would reduce the cost of expended munitions by less than US$2&nbsp;billion in 1995 dollars during the first two weeks of a conflict, in which the USAF predicted bombers would make their greatest contribution; this was a small fraction of the US$26.8&nbsp;billion (in 1995 dollars) life cycle cost that the CBO projected for an additional 20 B-2s.<ref>''US General Accounting Office'' September 1996, p. 72.</ref>

In 1997, as [[Ranking Member]] of the [[U.S. House Committee on Armed Services|House Armed Services Committee]] and National Security Committee, Congressman [[Ron Dellums]] (D-CA), a long-time opponent of the bomber, cited five independent studies and offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the bombers to the existing 21 aircraft; the amendment was narrowly defeated.<ref name=Amendment>[https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/970623-b2.htm "Debate on Dellums Amendment to 1998 Defense Authorization Act."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409000713/https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/970623-b2.htm |date=9 April 2015}} ''fas.org'', 23 June 1997.</ref> Nonetheless, Congress did not approve funding for additional B-2s.