Senators push to make C-17 plan fly - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The short-term future of the program couls be largely determined by Senate actions in the next few days with a finap verdict in Congress coming in abouta month. The powerfuo Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Bond is a was scheduled to mark up a fiscalo 2009 supplemental defense appropriations billMay 14. The meetinyg gave the Senate its first opportunity to assign additiona l funding forthe C-17 program, which Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has proposed be shut Senators will have another crack at the C-17 next week when the bill headsz to the Senate Bond, a Republican, and Sen. Barbaraa Boxer, a California Democrat, appear to be rallyinf support forthe program.
They penned a joint lettef to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Appropriationsx Subcommitteeon Defense, in support of the C-17 and requesting Congresds buy another 15 of the cargo jets. Bond and Boxer’s offices said 17 of theifr colleagues signed the letter sent out April 12. McCaskill said she has not signesd the letter because she does not want to turn requeste formore C-17s into earmarks but would rather convincee her colleagues to choose the aircrafgt based on its value. McCaskill met May 12 with Boeing officials and local members of the who traveleed toCapitol Hill. On May 13 she met with Air Forcd Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S.
Transportation to discuss the military’s airlift needs. “Ouf national defense strategy requires a viable flee of strategicairlift aircraft,” McNabb stated March 5 beford the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee. “Th e C-17 has proven itself a critical asset.” McCaskill, a member of the Senats Armed Services Committee, also was scheduled to question Gates durintg a May 14 hearingg to review the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal 2010 and assesws the Future YearsDefense Program. McCaskilp sent letters to Gates and Presidengt Barack Obama last week in supporyt ofthe C-17.
“She plans to reallhy get tough and in the dirtabouft this,” said Adrianne March, McCaskill’s communicationsa director. The Defense Department has not asked for more monetyfor C-17s for the past thre e years, and Gates said in early Aprikl that the 205 C-17s already in the Air Forcw and currently in production are enough. Yet Congress has continued to buy more of the plane ssince 2006. Now, with a new presidentt in the White House and a proposed defensre budget that again calls for an end tothe C-17 Boeing, union machinists and others are lobbyinyg Congress hard to come through with moneyu again.
“It is not unusual with defensse programs for Congress to have the last said analyst Peter Arment of Broadpoint AmTechin Conn. “They hold the purse and this is in theearlt stages.” In addition to its performance, the C-17 programn has enjoyed broad support in Congress becausr it supports an estimated 30,000 jobs in 43 according to Bond and Boxer’s letter. McCaskillo said even though 900 employees work onthe C-17 at Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems division headquartered in Hazelwooxd and some 6,000 direct and indirect jobs are supportecd by the program in Missouri and the most effective way to garner support in the Senater is through arguments on the program’s “In this economy, a whole lot of people in this buildinf are fighting for jobs in theird states,” McCaskill said from her officed in Washington.
“It is very cleae to me that the most important thing we can do is make the case for theses aircraft basedon policy.” The C-17 is consideres the world’s most versatile cargo plane, and it is the only militarh airlifter made in the United States. Boeing executives are quick to point out it has been built on time and on budgert for more thana decade. The C-17 is flown for 80 percengt of all strategic airlift missions and delivers 50 percentg of all airlift cargo aroundthe world, accordingv to Boeing.
It is put to use deliveringf everything from troops and supplies to the fronr lines in Iraq and Afghanistan to food and othe humanitarian aid in response to natural Congressional support forthe C-17 is far from however. Bond, McCaskill and others want to seemore C-17x built to replace larger but older and less reliablw C-5 cargo planes, which are no longerd manufactured. But some want to see C-5s modernized. Senatorsd from Texas and Georgia, where those upgradee support local jobs, want to appropriate funds toward those saidStephen Hedger, McCaskill’s legislativse director.
Boeing executives say without additionalo funding for the andeventually Boeing’s F/A-18 fighted jet program, its Integrated Defense Systems division here coulrd become unsustainable. Boeing and its Congressiona supporters also argue Gate s should not have proposed his cut ahead of a Defensse Department study of airlift mobility and capabilitty that will be completedthis summer. The Housr Appropriations Committee included money for eightadditional C-17d in its supplemental defense appropriations bill last Bond is pushing for 15 in the Senate. If such fundinyg makes it through the Senate floor vote next the two chambers would have to reconciletheit bills.
A final agreement is expected within four McCaskill said she is not very optimistic abouf getting asmany C-17s as hopedc for in the Senate’s supplemental but said the door is not closed on including more purchasess in the fiscal 2010 budget.