Takes Flight

28 Apr 2008
Boeing's Congressional Backers Strategize To Reverse Northrop Grumman Win
Congressional Quarterly is reporting on a variety of legislative strategies Boeing and its backers in Congress are considering using to take away the contract Northrop Grumman won from the Air Force to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.

CQ reports that Boeing's supporters have both short-term and long-term strategies. The first is to find ways to "prevent the Air Force from following through on the contract," and their long-range approach, CQ reports, is to "permanently change Pentagon contracting rules that they believe favor foreign firms over U.S. companies."

CQ notes that while some of the Boeing-backed measures could make it through the House, "there is less inclination to back such provisions" in the Senate, where free-trade forces hold sway. What's more, President Bush has threatened to veto both measures.

CQ points out that any such protectionist measures could have a serious backlash for defense contractors in the U.S. — particularly Boeing — because for every dollar American firms spend abroad, allies in Europe and elsewhere spend upwards of four dollars in the U.S.

"If we allow Boeing to successfully lobby for a politically driven outcome, what are we going to say when something similar happens to a U.S. company in some parliament somewhere else in the world?" Todd Malan of the Organization for International Investment, which represents foreign companies in the United States, told CQ.

Boeing's tanker stance is all the more ironic, given that just today comes news that it will outsource two critical components of the F-18 jet fighter to India.

CQ further reports that Representative Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, whose district has a Boeing plant, is preparing legislation that would force the rebidding of a contract that even Boeing praised as fair, open and transparent while it was being conducted. It would also force a re-evaluation of allowing the Pentagon to contract with 21 foreign countries with which America has trade agreements.

Representative Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, also is considering a bill that would force a re-bidding of the contract.

Read the entire story

What Others Are Saying:

The Tacoma News Herald's editorial page is warning Boeing backers that their moves to undo Northrop Grumman's contract win means they are "walking into a political minefield."

Speaking specifically of Representative Norm Dicks, who has said he "has no faith today in the U.S. Air Force," the News Herald cautions that his bid to "fight this thing every step of the way" could have dangerous political consequences.

"The veteran defense appropriator is venturing into a political minefield," the News Tribune wrote. "As Dicks knows, Congress has never used the power of the purse to override such a major procurement decision."

"John Young, the Pentagon's top acquisition official, has warned that such a move could set a bad precedent," the paper continued. "It is going to be dangerous to set aside valid source selections on a political basis," he said. 'Do we have the California delegation kill a program because the Georgia delegation won? I don't know where this stops.' "

The paper says that Young's concerns are valid, and that it's incumbent upon Representative Dicks and other Boeing backers to prove that the Air Force "ordered up a plane that is so inferior that it risks crew safety, operational ability and national security."

"It's difficult to believe that the Air Force blew it that badly, knowing full well that awarding such a massive deal to an Airbus team would be controversial," the newspaper said. "The standard of proof has to be set very high if Congress is going to go where no Congress has gone before."

Read the entire Tacoma News Tribune editorial

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