Gordon Smith Attacks Jeff Merkley for Saying We Need to Make Smart Decisions When It Comes to Major Military Projects

Gordon Smith attacked House Speaker Jeff Merkley yesterday for speaking out against the U.S. Air Force decision to award a new air refueling tanker contract to a French company rather than building it in America, and for challenging the B-2 bomber two decades ago, when Merkley was a strategic nuclear arms analyst for the Congressional Budget Office.

In the back and forth over the Boeing deal, the Smith campaign pointed to an op-ed that Merkley wrote for The New York Times in 1989 arguing against development of the stealth bomber.(Jeff Mapes, 3/18/08)

The Smith campaign was defending Senator Smith's role in the tanker contract that cost Oregon 225 jobs. Smith cast the decisive vote for John McCain's amendment to encourage outsourcing by exempting the Department of Defense from the Buy American Act. The final vote in the U.S. Senate was 50-48. [Senate vote #191, 5/21/03] Had he voted against the amendment, Gordon Smith could have prevented family-wage jobs from being sent overseas.

Following Smith's attack, Merkley issued the following statement:

"Gordon Smith is failing to understand that Congress and the U.S. Senate must make sure citizens' tax dollars are being used wisely, especially when it comes to our military. At a cost of $100 billion, the investment made in the stealth bomber could have created a path to home ownership for 20 million American families. Deciding how to spend that money was an enormous decision for our nation, and the public deserved a full debate.

"Everyone agrees that the aging KC-135 refueling tankers need to be replaced. The question is whether they should be manufactured in America or in France. I believe they should be manufactured in America to build our aerospace manufacturing expertise and create quality jobs for thousands of American families.

"Unfortunately, Smith disagrees. He paved a path for the European company by supporting John McCain's amendment to exempt the Department of Defense from the Buy American Act. I am disappointed that Smith will attack me on this issue but not share my outrage over the loss of thousands of American jobs and important defense expertise."

Posted March 19, 2008
Press