At the request of Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, a House committee shifted money to continue to build F-22 fighters, a defeat for the Obama administration and a win for the workers at Hill Air Force Base.

Near the tail end of a marathon congressional hearing on the defense budget, Bishop pushed — and won by a single vote — an amendment that shifts $369 million to hold off on plans to shutter the F-22 production, and leaves open the potential of building 12 more fighter jets.

Bishop lost repeated attempts to restore a $1.2 billion cut to the missile defense system.

“We had a few losses on the missile defense side, but it was very good [night] for Hill,” Bishop said.

The defense-spending bill now heads to the full House for a vote and then to the Senate, a long process where language and funding may get changed.

“This is the first step,” Bishop said. “We have a long way to go.”

But Bishop said getting the House Armed Services Committee to agree to keep alive the F-22 program and deferring for a year a reduction in Air Force jets was a good initial success.

The Obama administration, led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has pushed a series of defense cuts, including ramping down the production of F-22s.

The Utah congressman, the state’s only member of the House Armed Services Committee, also added to the spending bill:

– $5.1 million

for modifying the taxiway apron of Hill’s main runway to make it safer and allow for more efficient flight operations;

– $3.4 million for research into converting fuel to fertilizer at Tooele Army Depot;

– $5.2 million for a program at Ogden Air Logistics Center to improve productivity of the 309th Maintenance Wing.

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