Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the Westmoreland amendment to the fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. It strikes section 341 which would negatively impact the venerable and highly effective F117 engine that powers the Air Force workhorse personnel and cargo transport, the C-17 aircraft. The existing language requires disclosure of proprietary information which would hamper contract negotiations, having the potential of posing a detrimental impact to the readiness of the fleet. Today, F117 engines are sustained through an award-winning performance-based logistics contract that minimizes life cycle costs with fixed fees based on flight cycles. This contract type requires comprehensive understanding and investment by the service provider along with the engineering design expertise to develop and implement improvements in response to actual mission experience. It is vital that we use every practical means of providing for the defense of this country and the protection of our warfighters, including the appropriate use of competition and any other contracting method. In fact, the Air Force has already taken steps to ensure these outcomes are achieved on the C-17 sustainment contract. Just last year, the Air Force held an open and transparent bidding process for the F117 and there was only one bidder.…”