Bipartisan effort to prohibit Air Force from prematurely retiring warplanes
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is praising the Senate’s passage of a measure that will prohibit the Air Force from prematurely retiring 249 fighter jets.
“The Senators did the right thing,” said Giffords, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “Our nation is at a potentially dangerous precipice with a shortage of fighter jets. The last thing we need at this critical time is to make the problem worse than it already is.”
The measure, offered as an amendment to a Defense Department spending bill, passed the Senate on Tuesday in a 91 to 7 vote. It was offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican from Missouri.
The amendment requires the Air Force to report to lawmakers why they want to retire 249 warplanes used at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and in other states. Giffords backed a similar amendment the House version of the bill in May as part of her effort to maintain a strong fighter force.
The congresswoman has for months urged the Pentagon to address the potential shortfall in fighter jets. Writing in Politico last June, Giffords warned that 80 percent of all Air National Guard jets will be unusable in eight years unless action is taken. She also was responsible for two other requirements in the Defense Department authorization bill regarding fighter aircraft and is the co-founder of the Fighter Gap Task Force with Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican from New Jersey.