Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
March 25, 2008 Lawmakers look to reverse decision
By Eric Rosenberg, P-I Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., said Monday that Boeing Co. supporters in Congress are exploring legislative options to freeze the award of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the EADS-Northrop Grumman Corp. team.
Chicago-based Boeing is appealing the Air Force decision to the Government Accountability Office, which is scheduled to render a verdict by mid-June.
If Boeing's appeal fails, "you are going to see a vigorous effort in Congress through the appropriations process or some other mechanism to revisit this whole contract," Inslee said in an interview. "There are six to a dozen strategies we are now looking at to see the best way to do that."
George Behan, a spokesman for Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said lawmakers were mulling "several options" -- including canceling funds for the tanker program. Dicks believes that "Congress reserves the right to take actions it deems warranted, including those which could reverse the contract award."
The Air Force on Feb. 29 rejected Boeing's bid to build a new fleet of aerial tanker planes based on the company's 767 passenger jet. The service instead selected a tanker modeled on the Airbus 330, a much larger airplane.
According to Inslee, the legislative options under discussion include:
Prohibiting the award of a U.S. government contract to any company found by the U.S. government to be receiving illegal subsidies.
The U.S. Trade Representative has alleged in a complaint with the World Trade Organization that EADS, the parent of plane maker Airbus, receives illegal subsidies from European governments, the effect of which has been to undercut Boeing's prices on commercial aircraft and gain worldwide market share.
Directing the Air Force to reconsider the competing tanker proposals and "factor in the subsidies," Inslee said in a telephone interview from India, where he and other lawmakers are traveling.
Directing the Air Force to reopen the bidding and allow Boeing to propose building a tanker based on a larger airplane.
Canceling the EADS-Northrop contract outright, the "ultimate last-case scenario" Inslee said.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of a key House panel that oversees military spending, warned earlier this month that his panel might propose freezing tanker funds.
"All this committee has to do is stop the money (and) this program is not going forward," Murtha said.
But other lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee are likely to resist efforts that would cut tanker funds and reopen the competition.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a senior Republican on the panel, has warned "that Congress should not get in the business of trying to rewrite a contract, particularly one of this magnitude and complexity."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., whose constituents would make up some of the work force assembling the Airbus tanker, suggested that Boeing's supporters on Capitol Hill should get over their disappointment and focus on the main goal: "producing the best aircraft" possible.
"We need to get on with it," Wicker said.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., whose state would gain thousands of new jobs from the contract, said it should stand.
"The complaints have come now from some who didn't win, and I think that's a bit late," Sessions said, adding, "It's not acceptable to change the rules in the middle of the game, and it's certainly not acceptable to change the rules after the game is over."
March 25, 2008 Lawmakers look to reverse decision
By Eric Rosenberg, P-I Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., said Monday that Boeing Co. supporters in Congress are exploring legislative options to freeze the award of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the EADS-Northrop Grumman Corp. team.
Chicago-based Boeing is appealing the Air Force decision to the Government Accountability Office, which is scheduled to render a verdict by mid-June.
If Boeing's appeal fails, "you are going to see a vigorous effort in Congress through the appropriations process or some other mechanism to revisit this whole contract," Inslee said in an interview. "There are six to a dozen strategies we are now looking at to see the best way to do that."
George Behan, a spokesman for Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said lawmakers were mulling "several options" -- including canceling funds for the tanker program. Dicks believes that "Congress reserves the right to take actions it deems warranted, including those which could reverse the contract award."
The Air Force on Feb. 29 rejected Boeing's bid to build a new fleet of aerial tanker planes based on the company's 767 passenger jet. The service instead selected a tanker modeled on the Airbus 330, a much larger airplane.
According to Inslee, the legislative options under discussion include:
Prohibiting the award of a U.S. government contract to any company found by the U.S. government to be receiving illegal subsidies.
The U.S. Trade Representative has alleged in a complaint with the World Trade Organization that EADS, the parent of plane maker Airbus, receives illegal subsidies from European governments, the effect of which has been to undercut Boeing's prices on commercial aircraft and gain worldwide market share.
Directing the Air Force to reconsider the competing tanker proposals and "factor in the subsidies," Inslee said in a telephone interview from India, where he and other lawmakers are traveling.
Directing the Air Force to reopen the bidding and allow Boeing to propose building a tanker based on a larger airplane.
Canceling the EADS-Northrop contract outright, the "ultimate last-case scenario" Inslee said.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of a key House panel that oversees military spending, warned earlier this month that his panel might propose freezing tanker funds.
"All this committee has to do is stop the money (and) this program is not going forward," Murtha said.
But other lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee are likely to resist efforts that would cut tanker funds and reopen the competition.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a senior Republican on the panel, has warned "that Congress should not get in the business of trying to rewrite a contract, particularly one of this magnitude and complexity."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., whose constituents would make up some of the work force assembling the Airbus tanker, suggested that Boeing's supporters on Capitol Hill should get over their disappointment and focus on the main goal: "producing the best aircraft" possible.
"We need to get on with it," Wicker said.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., whose state would gain thousands of new jobs from the contract, said it should stand.
"The complaints have come now from some who didn't win, and I think that's a bit late," Sessions said, adding, "It's not acceptable to change the rules in the middle of the game, and it's certainly not acceptable to change the rules after the game is over."