Lawmaker eyes move to block tanker money
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key member of the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday he would seek to block funds to start buying $35 billion of tanker aircraft if auditors call for reopening a competition in which Boeing Co lost out to Northrop Grumman Corp and a European partner.
Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, would recommend holding off on approving $831 million sought by the Air Force for related spending in the fiscal 2009 budget if auditors conclude that a new competition should be held, said a Murtha spokesman.
The spokesman, Matthew Mazonkey, was clarifying remarks made earlier in the day by Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat. Murtha had said he would block funds if GAO "overturns" the Air Force award to Northrop, something not in GAO's power to do, although it may make recommendations up to and including a call for a new competition.
Mazonkey pointed out that reopening the contract competition could take 18 months to 24 months, easing the need for money in the fiscal year that starts on Oct 1.
Boeing Co challenged the tanker award after the Air Force surprised aerospace analysts and others on February 29 by selecting Northrop Grumman and Europe's EADS.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional arm that investigates such protests, is due to rule by June 19 on the contract for the tankers that are used to refuel fighters and other warplanes in flight.
Murtha blamed Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. President, for prolonging the delay in getting the tankers to the Air Force. McCain spearheaded investigations into an initial, $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease and buy 100 modified Boeing 767 aircraft as tankers.
"Senator McCain himself held this thing up," Murtha told reporters after giving a speech at the Center for American Progress.
"It's very difficult for me to see this tanker going overseas," he added. The Northrop-EADS tanker would be based on the larger A330 built by EADS's Airbus unit, headquartered in Toulouse, France.
Asked to elaborate, Mazonkey said the lawmaker thinks it is very difficult "to have something as important as a refueling tanker" being built overseas. Northrop would assemble the tanker selected by the Air Force, dubbed the KC-45, in Mobile, Alabama.
When asked by a reporter if he had an open mind on which company ultimately should win the contract, Murtha said: "I'm very careful about that, and the subcommittee knows that."
Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat who is the third-ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a followup interview that he would push for an independent congressional review regardless of what GAO does.
"The more I look into this, the more I'm convinced this is a flawed decision," he told Reuters by telephone. "Congress has the ultimate authority."
"GAO will be very important here. But I don't feel that we have to do exactly what GAO does," Dicks added.
Representatives of Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(with additional reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Gunna Dickson)
