Boy, you really don't want to let this go, do you? I can tell you are bitter about this decision, but seriously - get a stress ball or something.
Gates never pushed for this second engine. Google "gates, engine, f35"
Now, Congress puts stuff back into the budget all the time that they want. Gates said a few years back to "kill the C-17." Congress said "yeah, right."
As I said, he's a terrible SECDEF (Don't Ask Don't Tell crap, supports pay freezes, kisses Obama's butt, etc) - but he was been 100% consistent on this engine.
I KNOW he never pushed for the engine. He’s tried to kill it. Hopefully Congress tells him the same thing re the F136 as it did the C-17.