Merci, John McCain, for French-Frying American Jobs

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



Merci, John McCain, for French-Frying American Jobs
By Isaiah J. Poole

March 21st, 2008 - 11:52am ET


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The Campaign for America’s Future has released a 30-second video that mocks Sen. John McCain’s involvement in an Air Force tanker contract that, as a result of McCain’s intervention, has gone to the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), the parent company of Airbus, instead of American-based competitor Boeing.

It coincides with a trip McCain is making to France today to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This issue, fundamentally, is not about taking sides between Airbus and Boeing. It’s about taking a side for the American worker, which McCain is doggedly refusing to do.

It is one thing to police the notoriously corrupt and favor-ridden military procurement system. It is another to intervene in ways that tilt the scales away from using American taxpayer dollars to support American jobs and America’s defense manufacturing capacity. And McCain has a long history of doing just that.

McCain has repeatedly voted against bills that encourage defense contracts to be awarded to American companies. In 1996, McCain voted to table an amendment that required defense contractors to indicate on contracts what percentage of the contract would be manufactured in the United States. The amendment would have also required the Department of Defense to treat this as an important factor when awarding contracts.

Moreover, in 2004, McCain proposed and voted for an amendment to allow the Defense Department to waive “Buy American” requirements, opening defense contracts to firms in seven countries that have a “declaration of principles” with the United States. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/merci-john-mccain-french-frying-american-jobs