Members of the United States House and Senate today agreed on a bill that includes more than $2 billion in funding to order eight Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which will keep a Boeing manufacturing plant in Long Beach open at least through 2011.
The move will likely save at the jobs of at least 5,000 Boeing employees in Long Beach, which seemed doubtful less than a month ago when the Senate Appropriations Committee said they would not recommend any further C-17 purchases. In April, Keith Higginbotham noted in this column that although Defense Secretary Robert Gates left C-17 orders out of his 2009 budget, the ultimate decision laid in Congress’ hands:
The bottom line, according to defense aviation experts,” Higginbotham wrote, “Is that Congress hold the ultimate budgetary authority and in the past has often saved programs headed for the chopping block, including the C-17.“
Looks like Congress can add to that reputation after today.
It has been a long and shaky road for the C-17 Globemaster and the thousands who depend on it for employment. A replacement for the aircraft has been in the works, but Boeing says it is a long way off, and that canceling the C-17 would have hindered the development of a new plane in the future.
Photo by Ryan ZumMallen
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