Bloomberg is reporting that the leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees started meeting today to resolve remaining differences in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). (On a story unrelated to the subject of this message, the article is at http://www.bloomberg.com/
One of the most prominent issues to be resolved is whether or not to ignore the clear intent of the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee to permit the A-10 Warthog fleet, or any part of it, to be retired in 2015. As you may know, the Air Force has been lobbying hard and holding press conferences trying to get the NDAA conferees to ignore the clear intent of both the House and Senate versions of the NDAA. (A commentary I published at War Is Boring addresses some of the details of the Air Force's concocted effort. It is at https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-u-s-air-force-is-trying-to-trick-us-into-getting-rid-of-the-a-10-b32efd62f620 )
Today, representatives of the Project On Government Oversight, the Straus Military Reform Project, the London Center for Policy Research, the Center for International Policy and the Center for a Secure and Free Society sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Minority Members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. We urge the conferees to "reject this [the Air Force's] interference with your legislation's overwhelmingly clear intent" that the A-10 force be retained, as is, in 2015. We also address funding levels and a provision for a needed GAO study of the cost and capabilities of the A-10 in the close air support mission compared to other airframes.
The text of our letter is at http://www.pogo.org/our-work/
No comments:
Post a Comment