The FISA debates has kind of side tracked everyone in the rest of the county from other important national security related problems we're facing, but the people of Kansas are deeply aware of a recent decision made by the Air Force.
If you aren't aware, the United States Air Force has decided to award a $3.5 billion contract for the construction of new tankers to the French company Airbus, instead of US (and Kansas) company Boeing.
Congresswoman Nancy Boyda was quoted in the Topeka Capital-Journal article:
"It just makes no sense for America to outsource our ability to defend a nation," she said.Boyda also released a press statement that went into some additional detail:
Boyda said, "This is just wrong in so many ways. By sending the tanker contract to France, the Pentagon has effectively jeopardized 44,000 American jobs. It's a very real loss to the industrial base." EADS-Northrop will use American workers only for assembly. "And let's not forget that Boeing has experience building tankers. Airbus has none. This is about more than keeping jobs in Kansas. It's about relying on a company with the proven ability to do the job."
"In addition to the economic blow," said Boyda, "it is an issue of national security. EADS is subsidized by a number of European governments. How can we guarantee that supplies from EADS will continue to flow to the United States if those countries do not agree with America's foreign policy?"
[...]
Said Boyda, "It just makes no sense for America to outsource our ability to defend a nation. In World War II, our nation's manufacturers turned on a dime to produce the planes and trucks we need to keep America safe. With every contract we send overseas, we lose our capacity to build for our own military."
"Please know," added Boyda, "I will fight to help protect jobs in Kansas and our nation's security when it comes to awarding military contracts."
You know, it's funny, because both of our US Senators have released press releases and have been quoted in the papers bemoaning the situtation, too, but that's an awfully strange position for them to be taking, since they, along with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain voted to make it easier for this very disaster to happen.
We agree totally with what Sen. Pat Roberts said in the Topeka Capital-Journal:In 2003 Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback voted for a John McCain amendment that encouraged the Department of Defense to buy military equipment from foreign countries. And yet, since the Air Force announced their intent to bypass Boeing Co. for the second largest defense contract in history, the two Kansas Senators have been among the most vocal dissenters.
[...]
"We've seen a lot of 'Buy American' talk from Sen. Roberts and Sen. Brownback in the days following the Air Force's decision, but their record doesn't back them up," said Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Mike Gaughan. "Where has this concern been as members of the Senate?"
"If this decision holds, it will be at the cost of American jobs and American dollars, if not our national security," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas.We only wish he would have voted with those considerations in mind before this was allowed to happen. Hopefully the other members of the delegation, including Congresswoman Boyda, and help correct the mistakes made by the previous Republican majority on this issue before too many Kansans have to go without work.
7 comments:
if john mccain really did push that amendment through this republican is NOT going to vote for him.
i won't vote for a democrat, either...but i sure as hell won't vote McCain.
Yes, John McCain really did sponsor and push that amendment through Congress, and all republicans except for one Senator voted for it along party lines. Democrats, who love America, all voted against this dangerous amendment.
Here's the amendment, if you're interested:
SA 783. Mr. McCAIN proposed an amendment to the bill S. 1050, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2004 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; as follows:
In lieu of the matter proposed to be stricken, insert the following:
SEC. 833. WAIVER AUTHORITY FOR DOMESTIC SOURCE OR CONTENT REQUIREMENTS.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
/C?r108:./temp/~r108BEx9uB
(I split the address so it wouldn't get cut-off)
that's just shocking...i can't believe that...i mean, i believe you aren't lying, i'm just so surprised he would have done that
This is great research on Pat Roberts' and John McCain's past votes and record. It's great education for the voters of Kansas, too, education which has been greatly LACKING on Pat Roberts' long record of pro-Bush, anti-Constitutional and un-American coverups of Bush-Cheney defiances of the American rule of law. Keep up the good work, and keep the revealing news of past Roberts and McCain votes coming !! -- Anon.
The credit on that research needs to go to the Kansas Democratic Party. We simply saw it in their press release.
-BB
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Excellent work. You can also check out ICanFreelance.com. There are plenty of homejobs and what is outsourcing
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