A key Senate vote has been postponed to strike out $1.75 billion added to the defense spending bill for more fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.

Sen. Carl Levin on Wednesday withdrew the F-22 amendment temporarily so the Senate can first address a controversial hate crimes bill. That bill, introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will be attached to the fiscal 2010 defense spending bill.

The chamber was expected to vote on the amendment filed by Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. John McCain, the committee's top Republican, to cut extra money for seven more planes and avert a veto threat issued by the White House.

Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee narrowly approved the additional funding requested by Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss, despite opposition from Levin and McCain. Elsewhere, the House last month voted to include a $369 million down payment for 12 additional fighters to its version of the defense bill.

The inclusion of funding for the F-22 has sparked a political showdown with the White House. The Obama administration has repeatedly threatened to veto a defense spending bill that includes money to buy more of the radar-evading jets beyond the 187 requested.

McCain, in an unusual alliance with the White House, expressed disappointment on the Senate floor that the chamber failed to reach an agreement to hold a vote on the F-22 amendment.

Levin, D-Mich., said he doesn't understand why the F-22 vote needs to be delayed after ample time was provided to debate the issue. Regardless if the F-22 amendment is taken up now or later, both bills will need to be resolved, he added.

Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is expected to file a cloture Wednesday, a vote that would advance the hate crimes bill. That means the F-22 will not be up for discussion by the Senate until next week.

Reid spokesman, Jim Manley, said the Majority Leader preferred to get a vote on the F-22 first, but it became apparent that supporters of the plane were not interested in having a vote this week.

Interested parties have been lobbying members for congressional support on what is anticipated to be an extremely close vote on the F-22 amendment.

"I don't want to give you a vote count," Levin told reporters. "It's going to be a close vote."

Chambliss and other lawmakers who represent districts where F-22 production jobs are at stake have lobbied hard to keep the program. Lockheed's primary manufacturing plant is in Georgia, but key parts of the plane also are made in Texas and California.

On the Senate floor Tuesday, Chambliss said a "veto threat is a serious step" and it is "regrettable" that the Obama administration has taken such action over funding for the F-22.