The Bush administration has agreed to provide House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with regular access to an Air Force passenger jet, but the two sides are negotiating whether she will get the big aircraft she wants and who she may take as passengers, according to congressional and administration sources.
A congressional source said that Rep. John P. Murtha, chairman of House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, which controls the Pentagon's spending, has telephoned administration officials to urge them to give the speaker what she wants.
Evidently, the Pentagon is thinking about the fact that Democrats hold the purse strings for defense spending. Hell, if Grandma gets testy, she might decide to slash the budget.
Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri called it a "flying Lincoln Bedroom," and Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican, labeled the speaker's plane "Pelosi One."
"This is a bullet point to a larger value -- Pelosi's abuse of power continues," Mr. McHenry said yesterday. "It began when the speaker denied minority rights to Republicans, continued with her 'TunaGate' scandal, and now she's exploiting America's armed forces and taxpayers for her own personal convenience."
Since September 11, 2001, the Speaker of the House has used an Air Force One commuter-type jet. But Grandma wants a bigger jet. Just like the President's. Isn't that nice?
UPDATE: Our friend Aphrael pointed out that, given the distance to Pelosi's district, the request isn't unreasonable. While (like me) he thinks it is a frivolous perk, she should have the same convenience that the former Speaker, Denny Hastert, had. And I agree with him. Read his post here.
As I said over on my blog, I think this is much ado about nothing (and, as I didn't say there because I didn't know that then, the White House agrees).
ReplyDeleteStopping to refuel and take off again adds time to what is already a long flight; it's perfectly reasonable for the Speaker to insist that, if she's going to fly on a government jet, it be able to take her home nonstop. Hastert had a smaller jet than the one that Pelosi wants because he didn't have to travel as far.
If we're going to have a policy of having the Speaker fly on a government jet -- a policy which I think is dubious, but that's anothyer matter entirely -- her request for one that can take her home in one flight entirely reasonable.
OK, if the reason she wants a bigger jet is so she doesn't have to stop and refuel (which could be a security measure), I can see requesting the bigger jet. The original story I saw said she wanted it just so she could take more people with her.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole Speaker-having-a-government-jet policy is wasteful and unnecessary. I could see it just after 9/11 when everybody was so spooked, but it just seems like a wasteful perk at this point.
I agree that it's an unnecessary perk, and would just as soon see it abolished. :)
ReplyDeleteWill you now retract this story? No? Didn't think so. No guts.
ReplyDelete