Sat, Jul 18, 2009
House Defense Subcommittee Approves Funding For 5
Helicopters
Even with layoff notices going out to workers at Lockheed
Martin's Owego, NY plant, the House Appropriations Defence
Subcommittee has tried to breath new life into the embattled VH-71
program, including $485.2 million to build five of the Presidential
helicopters.
The $13 billion dollar program had been written off as scrapped
as recently as a week ago, but Congressman Maurice Hinchey
(D-NY) is trying hard to keep it going. ""It's taken a lot of hard
work to get to this point, but funding for Lockheed Martin's
presidential helicopter is back on track," Hinchey said in a
statement on his website. "My colleagues on the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense today flatly rejected the
many false claims made about the VH-71 program. It's been
clear all along that canceling the presidential helicopter project
would be an enormous waste of taxpayer money and force the
president to continue flying in an extremely old and outdated
helicopter. By providing $485.2 million for Increment 1, we
will put people in Owego back to work building a state of the art
presidential helicopter fleet that is badly needed. Providing
continued funding for the VH-71 project is the most fiscally
responsible step we can take to produce a much-needed helicopter
fleet for the White House." Hinchey represents the district where
the Owego plant is located.
"There are several legislative steps that the bill needs to go
through before the funding for the helicopter is officially
allocated," his office told the Elmira, New York Star Gazette. The
staff also predicted that "(f)inal approval of the funding would
result in the restoration of most, if not all, of the recently
announced job cuts associated with the development of the
presidential helicopter."
Congressman Hinchey
"We've been trying to encourage Lockheed Martin to keep this
congressional process in mind," said Hinchey spokesman Jeff
Lieberson. "We hope the Senate can act this month or take it up in
September."
The appropriations process is long. From this subcommittee vote,
the full House Appropriations committee would have to include the
funding, and there is currently no companion bill in the senate,
though Senator Charles Shumer (D-NY) has said he would work to keep
the program alive on that side of the Capitol. But even if it
passes both houses of congress, there is no guarantee President
Obama would sign the bill. He has threatened to veto the Defense
Appropriations bill over funding for the F-22 and F136 alternate
engine for the F-35 JSF.
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