President Obama today will trumpet his administration's efforts to slash wasteful projects from defense spending when signing the Defense Authorization bill approving the Pentagon's funding blueprint.

At 2:30 in the White House Rose Garden Obama will sign the measure authorizing 2010 spending of $680 billion . The president will laud Defense Secretary Robert Gates for helping him remove funding for F-22 fighter jets and a new fleet of presidential helicopters.

"Today, we are putting an end to some wasteful projects that lawmakers have tried to kill for years," Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks obtained by TPMDC. "And in doing so, we are changing business-as-usual in Washington."

The president will present the signing as proving that "change is possible." Gates, the lone Republican Obama retained from the Bush administration, will be on hand to reap the praise.

Washington insiders believe Gates won't stay through the entire administration, but Obama will signal he's happy with his defense secretary in his remarks, saying they will keep fighting to cut waste in the months "and years" to come.

As we've written, the authorization also will create a new federal designation for hate crimes.

The excerpts we've obtained after the jump.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will always do whatever it takes to defend the American people. That is why this bill provides for the best military in the history of the world. It reaffirms our commitment to our brave men and women in uniform and our wounded warriors. It expands family leave rights for the family members of our troops and veterans. And it makes investments in the capabilities necessary to meet 21st century challenges.

But I have always rejected the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars to keep this nation secure. In fact, wasting these dollars makes us less secure. And that's why we have passed a defense bill that eliminates some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense process - reforms that will better protect our nation, better protect our troops, and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.

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Now, when Secretary Gates and I first proposed going after some of these wasteful projects, there were cynics who said it wasn't possible; who argued that the special interests were too entrenched, and that Washington was simply too set in its ways. Well, today we have proved them wrong. Today, we are putting an end to some wasteful projects that lawmakers have tried to kill for years. And in doing so, we are changing business-as-usual in Washington.

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This bill isn't perfect. There is still more waste we need to cut. There are still more fights we need to win. And Secretary Gates and I will continue waging those battles in the months and years ahead. But today we have proved that change is possible. It may not come quickly or all at once, but if you push hard enough, it does come.

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Already, I've put an end to unnecessary no-bid contracts. I signed bipartisan legislation to reform defense procurement so weapons systems don't spin out of control. And even as we made critical investments in the equipment and weapons our troops do need, we're eliminating tens of billions of dollars in waste we don't need.

No longer will we be spending nearly two billion dollars to buy more F-22 fighter jets that the Pentagon says they don't need. This bill also terminates troubled and massively over-budget programs such as the Future Combat Systems; the Airborne Laser; the Combat Search and Rescue Helicopter; and a new presidential helicopter that costs nearly as much as Air Force One. At the same time, we accelerated or increased weapons programs needed to confront real and growing threats - the Joint Strike Fighter, the littoral combat ship, and more helicopters and reconnaissance support for our troops at the front. And this bill also reduces waste and fraud in our contracting system, as well as our reliance on private contractors for jobs that federal employees have the expertise and training to do.