Legislative fight over Air Force tanker intensifies

The legislative battle over a controversial Air Force aerial tanker contract is intensifying between Boeing and Northrop Grumman supporters.

Kansas GOP Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Robertson, both Boeing supporters, on Thursday night introduced legislation requiring the Air Force to award the contract to Boeing, or re-bid the contract under terms more favorable to the Boeing proposal.

{mosads}But on Friday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) put a hold on the Kansans’ bill. Sessions is a strong supporter of Northrop Grumman and EADS North America — the two companies that share the contract. The Northrop tankers are slated to be assembled in Mobile, Ala.

Boeing lost the $35 billion contract for the new midair refueling tankers but successfully protested the award with the Government Accountability Office, which this week said Boeing had a strong shot of winning the program if the Air Force has not made several errors in its selection process.

Northrop Grumman still holds the contract for the tanker, despite the dispute.

The Pentagon, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the helm, and the Air Force are still figuring out the path forward with the tanker contract and how to best heed GAO’s recommendations.

Senate rules allow individual members to slow the progress of legislation in the Senate. Sessions said he was holding the bill to give the Air Force time to respond and develop a way forward that served the best interest of the military.

“This legislation would take an unprecedented step of overriding the entire competition, and I strongly object. I don’t think we politicians should start awarding $35 billion defense contracts from the floor of the U.S. Senate,” Sessions said in a statement.

The procedural move requires a 60-vote majority before the Senate can consider the measure.