U.S. lawmakers threaten to kill U.S. Air Force tanker deal
WASHINGTON: Members of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee warned this week that they would kill a multibillion-dollar contract to replace the fleet of U.S. Air Force fueling tankers if the Pentagon did not adequately explain why it gave the deal to a partnership between Northrop Grumman and the parent of Airbus, instead of to Boeing.
The lawmakers, including Representative John Murtha, a Democrat of Pennsylvania and the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said Wednesday that they were troubled that the contract announced by the U.S. Air Force last week puts a huge military construction program substantially in the hands of a foreign company, European Aeronautic Defense Space, or EADS. And they bluntly warned that they could squash it.
“This committee funds this program and all this committee has to do is stop the money and this program is not going to go forward,” Murtha said at a hearing that began a formal inquiry by Congress.
“We want to make sure everybody is treated fairly,” he told U.S. Air Force procurement officials before their testimony. “We want to make sure you made the right decision.”
U.S. Air Force officials, including Sue Payton, assistant secretary of the air force for acquisition, insisted that the bids by Boeing, based in Chicago, and Northrop Grumman, based in Los Angeles, were judged fairly.
“As a result of this fair and open competition,” she testified at the hearing, “the air force will deliver a tremendous capacity to the war fighter at a great value to the taxpayer.”
Murtha and other House Democrats also attacked Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate, for his role in scuttling a previous deal to let Boeing supply the tankers. McCain has boasted of those efforts, saying he prevented wasteful spending, but the Democrats on Wednesday said it was his fault that military industry jobs were going overseas.
“Having made sure that Iraq gets new schools, roads, bridges and dams that we deny America, now we are making sure that France gets the jobs that Americans used to have,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat of Illinois. “We are sending the jobs overseas, all because John McCain demanded it.”
The new contract allows spending up to $40 billion in the first phase of a multidecade program to replace the aging aerial tanker fleet, which dates back to the 1950s. The fleet is crucial to keeping U.S. Air Force fighter jets, bombers, cargo planes and other aircraft aloft on critical missions, allowing them to refuel in midair.
The total contract could be worth as much as $100 billion over 30 or more years, as the U.S. Air Force seeks to acquire 400 tankers at a rate of about 15 a year.
Boeing will get a briefing from the Pentagon on Friday and can then formally appeal the decision.
The victory by Northrop Grumman was greeted enthusiastically by lawmakers from Alabama and Mississippi, where the tankers would be assembled and thousands of jobs would be created. But it has been criticized harshly by lawmakers from Washington state, where Boeing builds planes, and Kansas, where Boeing would have assembled the tankers.
Representative Norm Dicks, a Democrat of Washington, kept a scowl fixed on his face throughout the hearing. “The air force has made a big mistake,” he said.
