Courtney Calls on Colleagues to Support Bill Safeguarding Taxpayer Investments in Qatari-Gifted Air Force One Plane
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a speech on the House floor, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, called on his colleagues to support the Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive Airlift Act, a bill he introduced today alongside Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.
The Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive Airlift Act would prohibit the use of congressionally authorized or appropriated FY27 funding to transfer the Qatari-gifted 747, now being used as Air Force One (the VC-25B Bridge Aircraft), out of possession of the U.S. Air Force.
To watch, click here.
“As the Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Air Force executive airlift programs, I want to remind the House that this aircraft is not the property of any one person, including the President of the United States,” Courtney said. “That plane is the property of the U.S. government and U.S. taxpayers, and under the control of the U.S. Air Force. It is a plane the U.S. taxpayer spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last years… and just a few days ago, it was announced that the Air Force had contracted a new pilot simulator training program for the Qatari plane to the tune of $45.3 million.”
“[The Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive Airlift Act] is about exercising congressional stewardship of property that belongs to the U.S. taxpayer, and it should be easy for every Member of this chamber to support,” Courtney continued. “To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it asserts what is both legally the right thing to do but also morally the right thing to do.”
To read a fact sheet on the Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive Airlift Act, including a timeline of the Qatari-gifted VC-25B Bridge aircraft, click here.
Executive airlift programs, including Air Force One, fall under the jurisdiction of the House Seapower and Projection Force Subcommittee.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Mr. Speaker, on September 4th, President Trump was asked about the future of the Qatari Air Force one plane, which after a messy rollout in July, he flew on to Ireland this past weekend. and he said, “I haven't made a decision, but it will probably go to the museum… It’s scheduled to go to the museum.”
Mr. Speaker, as the Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Air Force executive airlift programs, I want to remind the House that this aircraft is not the property of any one person, including the President of the United States.
That plane is the property of the U.S. government and U.S. taxpayers, and under the control of the U.S. Air Force. It is a plane the U.S. taxpayer spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last years to retrofit prior to its maiden flight to Turkey for the NATO summit.
After it was discovered by the Secret Service that the plane had serious vulnerabilities, and the President flew home on one of the older Air Force Ones, the Qatari plane went into another overhaul and received “maxed out” upgrades, as the President said, which cost even more taxpayer funds. And just a few days ago, it was announced that the Air Force had contracted a new pilot simulator training program for the Qatari plane to the tune of $45.3 million.
Clearly, Mr. Speaker, the U.S. taxpayer has huge skin in the game regarding the future of this plane. It is also clear that this plane has ample long-term service life left in it.
At the time it was gifted to the Air Force, it had only 800 hours of flight time, which is a fraction of the normal for full-service life of a comparable Boeing 747 jet. Given its low mileage and all the expenditure of government money and training, the notion that this plane should be mothballed in a couple of years and donated to a Trump museum is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, some may point to the example of the Air Force One plane at the Reagan Library as justification for President Trump's claim that he has the right to abscond with this plane after he leaves office. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Reagan Library plane was in Air Force service for 13 years after he left office in 1988 and served President George Herbert Walker Bush, President Clinton, and President George W. Bush until it was decommissioned in 2001.
The plane then went through a well-established legal process for transfer of excess federal property that President Reagan had no control over, and which is designed to protect the interests of the taxpayer.
Mr. Speaker, everything about this Qatari gifted plane has been problematic. The unanswered questions of a foreign emolument, the lack of transparency on the cost of the initial retrofit, the rocky maiden voyage to Turkey, and the President's repeated claims of ownership and control of the plane, which by law he does not have.
It is clear Congress needs to intervene to prohibit any unlawful attempt to send it to the museum.
Today, Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith and I will be introducing the Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive Airlift Act, which will very simply prohibit the transfer of the Qatari Air Force one, known as VC-25B Bridge aircraft, from the possession of the U.S. Air Force.
As I've made clear this morning, after all the money and work invested in the retrofit of this practically brand-new Boeing 747, as well as the new $45 million pilot training contract that the Air Force just announced, the country and the American taxpayer deserve to get its money's worth from this plane.
At a time when so many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, that is not too much to ask.
Its service life will last for years. Just as the Air Force One plane that flew for over a decade after Ronald Reagan left office, this Air Force One should be used to benefit the nation and not as a not be used as a vanity project.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is about exercising congressional stewardship of property that belongs to the U.S. taxpayer, and it should be easy for every Member of this chamber to support. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, it asserts what is both legally the right thing to do but also morally the right thing to do.
I urge my colleagues to join me and Ranking Member Smith to co-sponsor this commonsense measure.
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