Murtha Tries To Save New Marine One Fleet
Influential Dem. Rep. Wants Some Of $3.2B Spent On Presidential Helicopters To Be Salvaged After Project Cancelled
(AP) The chairman of a powerful House subcommittee that funds the military said Wednesday he hopes at least some of the $3.2 billion spent for a new fleet of presidential helicopters can be salvaged.
The military stopped production of the heavily over-budget VH-71 helicopter program, estimated to now cost $13 billion, at the White House’s request. The Navy is reviewing options to restart the process.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., told defense writers that he and other lawmakers are trying to persuade the administration to use at least some of what’s already been spent. Murtha said he thinks the White House was responding to bad publicity about the project, but that it made a decision that doesn’t make sense financially.
Murtha said: “$3.2 billion spent on the VH-71 and we get nothing out of it? That’s unacceptable.”
The new fleet was ordered by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks because of security concerns. As new requirements were added, the project became six years behind schedule and the price tag of the heavily equipped helicopters doubled to $13 billion.
Nine of the presidential helicopters out of a planned fleet of 28 have been delivered so far to the Navy.
In May, the military halted production of the helicopters at the Lockheed Martin helicopter plant in Owego, N.Y.
Don’t strain too hard. This is a political press release filtered through a news agency. There might actually be some practical wisdom in this attempt, or pork that stinks… probably in between somewhere. But you’ll never find out this way.
Well I agree that $355,555,555 is a bit pricey for a helicopter, but we did get 1/3 of the fleet for 1/4 of the projected cost. Did the taxpayer get ripped off…? y’betcha! Did we get “nothing to show” for the money spent? No. How many f***ing helicopters does the president NEED???
How is it possible to spend that on a helo, they ALL should be less than that. What a joke, no friggin wonder we are broke as a nation. The Chinese will own us in short order, time to learn to speak Chinese.
One word (you may want to check to make sure there are no children or esily offended people reading thi):
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Politics.
It’s because once a senator or representative is elected into office the first order of business is to stay in office. There are two main ways they do this: ensuring federal contracts, no matter how costly or how much the are *not *needed, are awarded to companies in their states and the second way is by pork barrel legislation.
You have to hand it to them. In their warped minds, they see nothing wrong with putting into a bill that is guaranteed to pass a ridere that has nothing to do with the bill so it will pass.
