GOP Senators Intro Bill To Protect SC Boeing Facility

By Andrea Salazar

A group of Republican senators urged Congress Wednesday to pass a bill limiting the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ability to shut down a Boeing Company facility in South Carolina.

The Acting General Counsel of the NLRB issued a formal complaint against Boeing alleging that it “violated federal labor law by deciding to transfer a second airplane production line from a union facility in the state of Washington to a non-union facility in South Carolina for discriminatory reasons.”

Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), John Thune (R-S.D), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) warned against shutting down the South Carolina plant fearing negative economic effects.

“We want to make it easier for Boeing and Motorola and Westinghouse and Nissan and Toyota to build in the United States what they sell in the United States,” Alexander said. “NLRB’s action is making it easier for manufacturers to look at the United States and say, ‘We’re going to build overseas’.”

The bill, introduced by Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), would “prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate or transfer employment under any circumstance.”

“It’ll be hard to continue to make products in America if the NLRB can tell a company after they make an investment, ‘By the way, we’re going to veto your decision’,” Graham said. “The amount of power that this would give an unelected bureaucracy in an American economy is chilling.”

Alabama Senators Want Equal Playing Field For Aerospace Contract

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference Tuesday, delegates from Alabama led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said they are disappointed with the Pentagon and U.S. Air Force's Request For Proposal (RFP) for a next-generation aerial refueling tanker, the KC-X, arguing that the RFP is biased towards the manufacturer Boeing.

Also bidding for the KC-X is defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which if chosen by the Pentagon to carry out the project, plans to build a new assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

Rep. Jo Bonner, (R-Ala.), whose Congressional district includes Mobile, says the new plant would create nearly 48,000 new jobs in his state.

“We look forward to build the world’s best tanker...but that's only if the Department of Defense is serious about giving us a fair shot and fair competition,” Bonner said.

Yesterday, every delegate from Alabama signed a letter that was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting a new draft of the proposal. The letter argues that the RFP lacks an “assessment of risk associated with either schedule, past performance or price.”

The letter also states that the some of the RFP’s new requirements for the tanker could be satisfied by the KC-135 refueling tanker, which was designed over 50 years ago.

In February 2008, the U.S. Air Force chose Northrop Grumman’s bid for the KC-X project, but later that year the Department of Defense halted the project.

"This new request for proposal has changed...in so many ways. And in just about all those ways, it is tilting the process towards Boeing,” said Shelby.

Iraq troop reduction benefits Afghanistan

Following an announcement by the Bush administration to withdraw 8,000 further troops from Iraq by February and funnel more troops to Afghanistan, the Secretary of Defense said that both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan are top military priorities. "With positive developments in Iraq, the strategic flexibility provided by ongoing troop reductions there , and the prospect of further reductions next year-- I think it is possible in the months to come to do militarily what we must in both countries," said Sec. Robert Gates in his written statement, referencing earlier Defense Department statements that in Afghanistan the U.S. does what it can and in Iraq it does what it must.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who drew the earlier distinction prioritizing the two wars, told the House Armed Services Committee that both conflicts are military priorities. "These [wars] are our priorities and they've been our priorities," he said. Mullen also enumerated the differences between the two conflicts including the nature of the enemy to the terrain on the ground. "We treated the needs of each war separately-- and weighed out decisions for each solely-- against the risks inherent and resources available."

Both Gates and Mullen made statements indicating united military decision making in reference to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward and a subsequent series in the Washington Post on the surge and how the military may have been circumvented by the White House. Mullen who is quoted in the book, emphasiezd that he was not interviewed about his statements. Mullen said that his advice, as chairman to the president was allowed up the chain of command unimpeded. "I think that is a very important part of our democracy and how the system is supposed to work."

Speaking about the recent 45-day period of review of troop levels in Iraq Mullen said that the decision was "candid, transparent, and thoroughly collaborative...including the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Additionally Gates announced that a procurement process for a new air tanker fleet would be postponed until July of 2009. The original bidding and selection process had been contested by Boeing and the GAO ordered a new request for proposals. Gates said because of the changes that need to be made to the "emotional" and "complicated" process, this procurement should be left to the next administration.

Boeing protest heard loud and clear

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces met to discuss the contract award protest filed to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) by Boeing and the future of the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. Ranking committee member Jim Saxton (R-Nj.) said that he was not going to advocate Boeing or Northrop Grumman, the Los Angeles based corporation that secured the 35 million dollar contract from the Department of Defense (DOD). Boeing filed a protest with the GAO after they lost the contract to Northrup Grumman.

Deputy General Counsel for the GAO, Daniel Gordon testified. He said that Boeing raised a number of challenges to the contract between the DOD and Northrop Grummon. As a result the AGO conducted a five-day hearing, in which 11 witnesses from the DOD testified. At that point, Gordon said, it was understood that the air force made numerous errors that could have affected the outcome between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Saxton said that the most important thing is that the aging aerial refueling tankers are replaced. He said that it is imperative to get new tankers out to the “war fighters” as soon as possible.

Conservative coalition calls for oversight of tanker contract

At a press conference at the National Press Club coalition of conservative think tanks expressed their concern over the Air Force's award of the aerial tanker refueling plane contract to the European Aeronautic Defense, and Space consortium. Participants were Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, who was also a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan. George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom and Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Jim Martin the National Defense Council Foundation and 60 Plus.

The speakers express their concern with the recent award of a tanker contract to a European based defense contractor EADS instead of the American aerospace company Boeing. They said that the current tanker fleet dates back to the Eisenhower administration and that because the new tanker will last as long, they are concerned with the American military "marrying" into a European company with a potential for conflicting national security interests. They called on Congress to exercise their oversight in the event that the Government Accounting office does not rule against the Air Force decision.

They coalition also alleged that the Department of Defense changed the requirements for the tanker in the middle of the bidding process to ensure what Frank Gaffney called "competition über alles." Gaffney said that the Air Force was disregarding the requests of warfighters and that the bidding process amounted to a "bait and switch."



One of the first questions was whether the think tanks involved in the coalition received money from Boeing. Only the Center for Security Policy has received money from both Boeing and Northrop Grumman (the American subsidiary of EADS) in the last calendar year.

When asked about the the coalition's position on John McCain's role in the bidding process and McCain's possible interest on behalf of EADS, Gaffney said that while he is personal friends with McCain, he disagrees with him in this respect. He mentioned a correspondence sent from John McCain to Robert Gates, before Gates' confirmation as secretary of defense, saying that it encouraged competition over all without respect to the requirements of the warfighter.

Gaffney said that while he is unsure of the intentions of those working with John McCain who have lobbied in the past for EADS, that McCain's emphasis on competition contributed to the "delay of game" that is keeping replacement tankers from the force, which Gaffney said concerns him on a national security level.