McCain Stiffs U.S. Workers, Helps Europeans Win Air Tanker Deal

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/12/mccain-stiffs-us-workers-helps-europeans-win-air-tanker-deal/

by James Parks, Mar 12, 2008

At a time when American jobs are disappearing and our manufacturing base is being decimated, working people are outraged that Republican presidential nominee John McCain played a key role in the Bush Defense Department’s decision to award one of our largest military contracts to a foreign company.

Had Boeing been awarded the air tanker deal, it would have supported at least 44,000 new and existing jobs in the United States, many of them good union jobs, and more than 300 suppliers in 40 states. But now only a few thousand lower-paying nonunion jobs will be created. Click here to send a message to your representatives in Congress, urging them to overturn this decision: http://capwiz.com/iamaw/issues/alert/?alertid=11106876&type=CO



The DOD announced Feb. 29 the awarding of a $40 billion to $100 billion contract for the construction of Air Force refueling tankers to Northrop Grumann and the European firm EADS, which makes the Airbus. Defense expenditures are supposed to comply with federal Buy American Law provisions, which require purchasing certain products from American companies when possible. But this administration has granted more waivers of the Buy American provisions than any administration in history.

Time magazine reports that McCain has been a “key figure” in the Pentagon’s attempt to complete the tanker deal. According to the news magazine, McCain wrote letters and pushed the Pentagon to change the bidding process so that Airbus’s government subsidies could not be considered when deciding to whom to award the contract. This placed Boeing, which receives no subsidies, at a clear disadvantage and conflicted with U.S. trade policy. In fact, the U.S. currently has a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO) charging unfair trade practices resulting from Airbus’s illegal subsidies.

Time also reveals that two current advisers to McCain worked on the deal for Northrop and EADS as lobbyists. They gave up their lobbying jobs when they came to work for McCain’s campaign, but a third lobbyist, former Rep. Tom Loeffler (R-Texas), lobbied for EADS while serving as McCain’s national finance chairman. Click here to read the Time article.

To top it off, OpenSecrets.org reports that McCain received $28,000 in contributions from EADS’s American employees, including CEO Ralph Crosby, Senior VP Sam Adcock and lobbyists representing EADS.

FULL story at link.

[panader0]

1. I read that yesterday. He said he was only trying to be fair, or

something like that. With McCain and Kyl as my Sens, it's embarrassing. By the way, weren't you in the hospital lately? How did it go?

[Omaha Steve]

4. My surgery is next Friday the 21st

But thanks for thinking of me!

OS

[panader0]

6. Good Luck!

[Vincardog]

2. Signed K & R

[bbinacan]

3. You must consider Boeing's

past acts. Besides, Northrup/EADS has a better plane.

[OregonBlue]

5. Wow, if all of this is true, this is darn near treasonous!!

[catnhatnh]

7. Steve....good luck with the surgery....

On the tanker contract, even as a union guy, I am conflicted....the Northrup/Boeing dust-up....both promise about the same % of "US components". Is it a given that factories in Alabama would be non-union (whether at inception or permanently) and are they using union exclusion and lower labor prices unfairly? Or is it more about guaranteeing work for guys already unionized? Thanks, Cat.

[Omaha Steve]

8. Just heading to bed

Start here. I'll go more into it Saturday as time provides.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=44...

After European Company Gets Pentagon Bid, Critics Take Closer Look at Senator

[Turn CO Blue]

9. Boeing can blame their sales team and their designers,

if they're looking for someone to blame. It all starts with the product and selling and technical specifications - which any buyer is going to compare those specs against the competition and find out mathematically who is better and what's a better value.

[MattSh]

10. You want to know what REALLY stiffs US workers??

It's the Department of Defense Budget. And Military Spending in general.

For 2007, the budget rose to US$439.3 billion.<1> This does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance and production (~$9.3 billion, which is in the Department of Energy budget), Veterans Affairs (~$33.2 billion) or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (which are largely funded through extra-budgetary supplements, ~$170 billion in 2007).<2> Conversely, the military budget does allocate money for dual-use items, such as the development of infrastructure surrounding U.S. military bases. Altogether, military-related expenses totaled approximately $626.1 billion.<3>

Wikipedia





Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,650 billion
MILITARY: 54% and $1,449 billion
NON-MILITARY: 46% and $1,210 billion

from... warresisters.org..