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Tanker Contest Could Lead To Air Force Changes
By Tiffany Craig Special Assignment Reporter
Published: Tue, March 18, 2008 - 6:50 pm
Last Updated: Wed, March 19, 2008 - 11:58 am
Last Updated: Wed, March 19, 2008 - 11:58 am
Tiffany Craig
Outspoken Kansas Representative Todd Tiahrt sent a harsh letter to President Bush.
Click here to read the letter.
You'll notice that 44 other members of Congress signed the letter too.
So, Tiffany Craig got on the phone and called the office of each politician.
We left a lot of messages and ended up with a few statements.
Jeff Giertz responded for Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley. "Well basically we feel like American defense and tax dollars should stay here in the United States. I know there's a French consortium that's part of the Northrop deal. There are some suppliers in our district in Iowa that would be positively impacted if the contract was awarded the other way and that's another factor in that decision."
Brian Robinson spoke on behalf of Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland. "We are not standing out of the White House gate shaking our fists and screaming. We're just saying this is a legitimate issue being brought forth by Boeing and by some other members of Congress. We do have a duty to hold the administration accountable on these sorts of decisions."
Rebecca Black sent a statement from Kansas Rep. Dennis Moore. "I have joined my colleagues in the Kansas delegation in sending letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and President Bush expressing our disappointment with the decision of the Air Force and encouraging them to share the reasons behind their decision with Boeing and other interested parties as soon as possible."
Patrick Creighton sent this on behalf of Pennsylvania Congressman John E. Peterson. “It's reprehensible to believe that this ill-fated deal will not put our national security at risk. This contract, which pits a publicly held American company up against a foreign-owned company, which is backed by foreign governmental support, is simply not fair. I stand by my original statement. An American tanker should be built by an American company who employ American workers. We can not afford to outsource our national security."
The White House confirmed that they have received the letter but won't tell us if President Bush has read it. We were told that they are not the agency to answer tanker questions and directed us to the Pentagon.
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Boeing is doing its best to give the American public a snow job!
Instead of calling their foreign investments partners or subsidiaries, they call them sub-contractors. They “farm” out more and more of their workload to foreign entities in an effort to get away from strong American unions and pay rock bottom wages.
Instead of governmental subsidies, they threaten to close factories in order to receive huge tax breaks and even have employment laws re-written in order to minimize liabilities and expenditures.
If Boeing wants to make this contract a political issue with the use of scare tactics, then Northrop and Alabama needs to do a better job of getting the truth out to the general populace!!!!!!!!