Reports from Washington DC today are saying that the Senate Appropriations Committee will not suggest the purchase of any more Boeing C-17 Globemaster III’s in its Fiscal Year 2009 spending bill. Many of the aircraft are built here in Long Beach, accounting for more than 5,000 jobs that are likely to be eliminated if the program is cut. Production of the planes also produces about $3.2 billion to the state economy each year.
A bill from the House Appropriation Committee earmarked $2.2 billion to buy eight new C-17s, but Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye said he would rather include those purchases in a 2010 plan.
From Megan Scully and Humberto Sanchez at GovernmentExecutive.com:
In a letter to Inouye and Appropriations ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Tuesday, the senators sought funding to buy 15 more C-17s this fiscal year, which would boost the size of the fleet to 220 planes.
“We cannot ignore the fact that the C-17 is the last remaining strategic airlift production line in the nation, and shutting down this line prematurely may prove costly for the American taxpayer,” they wrote. “Across the United States, 30,000 people from 43 states go to work each day in support of the production of the C-17. Both the Air Force and the contractor have indicated that restarting a closed production line is prohibitively expensive.”
The senators pointed to reviews within the Defense Department that could determine that the military needs more of the aircraft. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has stated that the Air Force does not need more of the planes.
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., who both signed the letter, would not comment Tuesday on Inouye’s decision.
“We’re still working on it,” said Boxer, whose state includes the plant where the planes are assembled. “We’re trying to get it [money for the C-17s] everywhere we can.”
Inouye would not specify how many C-17s he hopes to include in the fiscal 2010 budget but said it would be enough to keep the line up and running.
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster recently wrote a letter to Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, asking them to continue lobbying to save the C-17 program.
“Boeing is the largest private employer in the City of Long Beach and its facility here is a vital contributor to the local economy,” Foster wrote. “The C-17 program tops the list of government programs that have been extremely successful in providing a vital resource to our national defense, while supplying skilled, high paying defense jobs here in the region. There is no better economic stimulus than putting the best people in the industry to work on the best airlifter the industry can offer in support our nation’s defense effort.”
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor