Former southern Senators (Breaux and Lott) drawn into tanker flap

[jus_the_facts]

Source: shreveporttimes.com

Two former southern Senators, Louisiana Democrat John Breaux and Mississippi Republican Trent Lott, are being drawn into the growing controversy surrounding a $35 billion deal for a new Air Force tanker that would largely benefit a European firm.

Hearst Newspapers and the military's "Early Bird" column for senior leaders say the Northrop Grumman Corp. has hired the former senators' lobbying firm to defend the Air Force decision awarding the company and French-based Airbus the lucrative contract to build a new fleet of tanker planes.

Breaux and Lott will seek to quell grumbling among some lawmakers who think the Boeing Co. should have been awarded the contract.

Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees defense-related budgets, has threatened to hold up funds for the tanker in the wake of the Airbus selection.



Read more: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/BREAKINGNEWS/80314013

[struggle4progress]

1. Putting loyalty to corporate profits above loyalty to country

[Bandit]

2. I thought there was a law or rule that said one couldn't lobby for at least a year

after leaving Congress. Lott hasn't been gone a month.This needs to be stopped..