Political Quotes

“I recognize that there are objections to bringing up a bill dealing with the Air Force KC-X tanker competition requiring the Secretary of Defense to take into account any unfair competitive advantages given to any of the competitors for the contract. This provision has passed twice on the House side now by overwhelming majorities and I am shocked that the same language cannot be included in the Defense authorization bill or passed as a stand-alone bill. These are legitimate concerns being brushed under the rug rather than dealt with head on. I recognize that with such a short amount of time left in this Congress we will have trouble convincing our colleagues that we are allowing a terrible precedent to be set and an expensive injustice is being done to American workers and taxpayers. In the last competition, GAO found multiple instances of uneven treatment that when compiled showed a pervasive bias in support of EADS/Airbus. Unfortunately, we now are seeing a similar pattern of behavior emerging and I have concerns about the conduct of the competition by the Pentagon for this U.S. taxpayer-funded $35 billion contract.”