Senate Air Force Caucus names leaders
The Senate Air Force Caucus on Friday announced the four lawmakers who will comprise its leadership in the 114th Congress.
Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will collectively steer the bipartisan group, according to a joint statement.
{mosads}The 35-member caucus is responsible for issues impacting the Air Force, and schedules briefings, base visits and meetings between Air Force personnel and Congress.
“The men and women of the Air Force — active duty, Guard and Reserve — are critical to our nation’s security and they deserve partners in Congress who support them,” Brown said in the joint statement.
“The Air Force Caucus is a great opportunity to share with my colleagues how proud North Dakota is to host so many Air Force missions and to advocate in the Senate on behalf of the best Air Force in the world,” Hoeven added.
The new caucus leadership will tackle a number of relevant issues at home. Chief among these, the statement said, are the Air Force’s bases, equipment and resources.
“The Airmen who serve in Montana and around the world play a critical part in our national defense,” Tester said in the joint statement Friday. “As they carry out their missions, we must provide them with the resources and equipment they need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
The Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support subpanel on Wednesday pushed back against the Department of Defense’s proposal for a new round of base closures. Ellsworth Air Force Base narrowly missed closure during the last round in 2005.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, pressed the Air Force earlier this month to place 18 A-10 attack aircraft on backup status rather than retire them outright.
“We’ve made it clear to the Air Force that we will not authorize further reductions in the A-10’s status until such time as the Air Force has an adequate replacement for the A-10, which they do not have,” McCain told the Arizona Daily Star on March 6.
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