Takes Flight
01 May 2008
Alabama Governor Urges House Speaker Pelosi To Honor Air Force Decision
The Mobile Press-Register is reporting today that Alabama Governor Bob Riley is signing a resolution urging U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to honor the Air Force's decision to award Northrop Grumman a contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
Boeing, which praised the bidding process as fair, open and transparent until it lost, has been working to overturn the contract, and has protested Northrop Grumman's win to the Government Accountability Office. Members of Congress from states where Boeing has plants have vowed to overturn the award - even if the GAO upholds the Air Force's decision that Northrop Grumman's bid was better.
Pelosi has raised questions about the contract because EADS North America, a key Northrop Grumman subcontractor, is owned by a foreign company.
The Press-Register reports that the resolution, passed by the Alabama legislature on March 25, asks Pelosi to "refrain from turning this vital national security matter into a political free-for-all, and allow the competent and capable workers of Alabama to immediately begin work on this critical contract."
Northrop Grumman's win will support 48,000 American jobs. In Alabama, that translates into 4,800 direct and indirect jobs; a main assembly plant will be located in Mobile. In Pelosi's home state of California, the KC-45 tanker program will create 7,500 aerospace jobs. Overall, 230 suppliers in 49 states will see work from the contract.
The Press-Register reports that Pelosi is scheduled as the keynote speaker at Friday's annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Birmingham.
Read the entire Press-Register story
What Others Are Saying:
CNBC's blog is reporting that Boeing's backers have started the "Tanker War Blog," on which CNBC reports they attack Northrop Grumman, "calling the Northrop Grumman-EADS Airbus tanker 'as American as Apple Strudel."
But CNBC reports the blog may be backfiring:
"Amazingly, there's a poll there on the blog to vote on whether Congress should stop the...contract," CNBC reports. "AND THE 'NO'S' ARE WINNING!"
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