Dan Coats: “this may sound surprising, but the committee agrees with Senator Bumpers. We have studied this and we absolutely have…”

“this may sound surprising, but the committee agrees with Senator Bumpers. We have studied this and we absolutely have language in this bill that requires testing before we buy or before we fly. We have carefully worked out a compromise on this issue with the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Air Force, contractors, Members of Congress--those for the F-22 and those against the F-22--to ensure adequate testing, but also to do so in a way that doesn't add unnecessary costs--some estimated at more than billions of dollars by delayed production--by unnecessary testing. The Secretary of Defense has to certify before we can go forward. We urge people to support the committee position. We studied this and we agree with Senator Bumpers: More testing before we fly--but not as much as Senator Bumpers thinks we need.”