Rep. Emanuel: McCain made sure that Iraq got new schools, roads & bridges that we deny America, & now is making sure that France gets our jobs.

From The New York Times:

Lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee warned Wednesday that they would kill a multibillion-dollar contract to replace the fleet of Air Force fueling tankers if the Pentagon did not adequately explain why it gave the deal to a partnership between Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus, instead of to Boeing.

[Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee,] and other House Democrats also attacked Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate, for his role in scuttling a previous deal to let Boeing supply the tankers. Mr. McCain has boasted of those efforts, saying he prevented wasteful spending, but the Democrats on Wednesday said it was his fault that military industry jobs were going overseas.

“Having made sure that Iraq gets new schools, roads, bridges and dams that we deny America, now we are making sure that France gets the jobs that Americans used to have,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois. “We are sending the jobs overseas, all because John McCain demanded it.”

Mr. Murtha . . . noted that the two major Democratic candidates for president, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, had expressed opposition to the deal with Northrop Grumman.
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I have followed this story since 2003 when Boeing blew this contract that could be worth as much as $100 billion over 30 or 40 years.

Under the deal that Mr. McCain helped scuttle in 2003, the Air Force would have leased tankers from Boeing under a sole source contract.

This Boeing contract fell apart in 2003 after a revelation that a top Boeing official had conducted illegal job negotiations with an Air Force acquisition official who later joined the company.

This scandal led to the departure of Boeing’s chief executive, the resignation of the secretary of the Air Force, and the imprisonment of two Boeing executives, including one who was the former Pentagon acquisition officer on the tanker program. Another Pentagon official involved later committed suicide.