Kelly Ayotte: “the amendment I have just offered to the Defense authorization bill is an amendment that Senator Reed from Rhode Island…”

“the amendment I have just offered to the Defense authorization bill is an amendment that Senator Reed from Rhode Island is joining me in sponsoring. The amendment itself would allow the Air Force to reduce its strategic airlift aircraft inventory to what they need to meet our readiness needs. It would save $1.2 billion of taxpayer money in the next few years, without compromising the readiness we need to protect our Nation. Our Nation's strategic air fleet provides global air mobility to the U.S. military. As GEN Raymond Johns, commander of the Air Force Air Mobility Command, said in his statement in a hearing before the Armed Services Committee, where we had this amendment addressed: The strategic airlift is a national asset allowing America to deliver hope, to fuel the fight, and to save lives anywhere in the world within hours of getting the call. In order to meet this need, the United States uses C-5s and C-17s as their strategic airlift capability, and current Federal law sets the Air Force's minimum number of strategic aircraft at 316. However, the Air Force and the administration--when the Department of Defense submitted their budget request, they made very clear that we don't need to keep the minimum requirement at 316 to meet the needs of our country; that only a minimum requirement of 301 aircraft are needed to meet the strategic airlift capacity requirements of our country.…”