Battle looms on new C-17s

The C-17 may be the workhorse cargo plane of the Charleston Air Force Base, but President Barack Obama and the Pentagon say no more are needed anywhere in the U.S. fleet.

Still, hawks and doves in Congress, eager to preserve thousands of jobs in home districts, could throw the administration's stance right out the window.

In what is expected to be a budgetary showdown this year, the Obama White House says no more Boeing C-17s are needed off the assembly line for Charleston or any other American base. Defense Secretary Robert Gates contends the Air Force already has more of the planes that it needs and that he'll recommend the president veto any legislation that funds new C-17s.

Continuing the line through the 2011 budget would prove "unnecessary," Gates said this month.

But under the reality of Congress' budgeting process, some watchdog groups say the plane is so important to so many congressional districts -- from Connecticut to California -- that legislators could opt to ramrod orders of the plane through.

"Congress could not care less what the facts are," said Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

"They do care about the pork, and they care especially about the

campaign contributions they get from Boeing and the subcontractors that work on the C-17."

Estimates are that parts for the $200 million airplane come from more than 650 suppliers in 43 states. Wheeler called the plane's many congressional protectors, "C-17 porkers."

Since its introduction in the 1990s, more than 190 C-17s have been built for the U.S. military, with an additional 30 or so expected by this fall. Charleston's 437th Airlift Wing is home to 57 of them, tasked to lift thousands of tons of cargo every month to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, there were nearly 3,300 departures from Charleston in support of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. More recently, base planes have played a daily role of humanitarian relief flights into Haiti.

The base does not anticipate any more being assigned here, but some 11 businesses have C-17 support contracts at the Charleston base.

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This isn't the first time Congress has rolled over the administration's plans for the C-17. Last year they added $2.5 billion, which was enough to buy 10 more planes, media reports indicate.

A leading member of South Carolina's delegation says anything could happen with the plane's future, hinting the budget can change greatly between when it is introduced by the president and ultimately passed by Congress.

"It is the president's job to propose and the Congress' job to dispose," U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a statement. "I expect the final version of the budget will differ somewhat from the president's proposal."

Clyburn will support adding more C-17s to the fleet if the case has been made sufficiently to do so, his office added.

Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's office wasn't prepared to comment on the C-17, citing the recent snowstorms that have closed down Washington, D.C., keeping staffers at home.

Wheeler said halting C-17 purchases by the defense department hinges on how serious the White House and Gates want to force a showdown with Congress over a plane he says could easily be left to die out in favor of other planes, such as the C-5 cargo carrier or even 747s.

"If Gates fights it to the death he can win," Wheeler said. "If he just gives statements, he'll just get rolled yet again."