WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that Congress reversed the President’s dangerous defense cuts and approved $2.2 billion for C-17’s – a victory for our national defense and Missouri workers.  The funds were included in the fiscal year 2009 defense supplemental spending bill, which after passing the Senate today and the House earlier this week will now be sent to the President to be signed into law.

 

“Congress sent the President a strong message – we are not willing to gamble with our national security or roll the dice with workers’ jobs,” said Bond.  “I promised Missourians that I wouldn’t give up the fight to keep safe their jobs or protect our national security and with these funds for the C-17 I’m making good on that pledge. ”

 

Bond, a member of the House-Senate Conference Committee on the fiscal year 2009 defense supplemental spending bill, and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked with Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) to secure the $2.2 billion for St. Louis-made C-17s in the final bill.  Bond also worked with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to gain support for the C-17 program from 17 other senators.  Inclusion of these funds in the final bill is a critical victory for Bond, Feinstein, Boxer and other advocates of the C-17 cargo plane.

 

Since the President announced his decision to roll the dice with our national security by eliminating the C-17 line, Bond has fought to reverse this gamble.  Bond pointed out that the C-17 is America’s only large airlift line in production and the only aircraft capable of performing all airlift.  With U.S. forces fighting two wars overseas – in Iraq and Afghanistan – our military’s airlift demands are growing.  Shutting down production of the C-17 would have threatened our ability to meet these critical needs. 

 

Bond stressed that the obsolete C-5A is far too costly of an alternative to meet our airlift needs.  First, the old aircraft is only able to fly 50 percent of the time.  Also, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that it would take seven C-5As at a $924 million cost to taxpayers to equal just one new C-17 – not a good bang for taxpayers buck!

 

Ending C-17 production also risks our domestic industrial base, emphasized Bond.  Eliminating the C-17 line would be a major brain drain, and would cost our nation the engineers, design teams, and skilled workers who build the aircraft.  Even scarier, this brain drain would force the United States to depend on the Russians or Europeans for future airlift needs.

 

Before Bond worked across the aisle to reverse the President’s dangerous defense cuts, 1,800 Missouri workers’ jobs were at risk, not to mention the thousands of workers and suppliers across the state.  Bond pointed out that it’s not just Missouri workers who would have been impacted – the C-17 line provides jobs in 43 states.

###