When Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested access to military aircraft, she had to know she was inviting trouble. And the White House is dragging out the negotiations, making sure the media has enough time to chew over the details of Pelosi’s request. Here are some of the latest comments: From CNN’s Lou Dobbs:
CORRESPONDENT: “It’s clear skies for Nancy Pelosi. The Pentagon is providing the House speaker with an Air Force plane large enough to accommodate her staff, family, supporters and members of the Californian delegation when she travels around the country. . . .
“Pelosi wants routine access to a larger plane. It includes 42 business class seats, a fully-enclosed state room, an entertainment center, a private bed, state-of-the-art communications system and a crew of 16. . . . It would be 42 people, and clearly she won’t be the only one on this plane. She wants to have members of the congressional delegation. And her critics will say, look, this is a very nice perk that she can share with her colleagues and use as leverage, should she need to.”
LOU DOBBS: “Well, it’s really a fascinating thing: 42. She could take a circus with her, for crying out loud.”
And from the Examiner:
Well, that didn’t take long. After campaigning against the ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ of the Bush administration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now wants to be cut in on the take.
The woman who five months ago said, “Democrats are committed to a new direction in the way our government does business so taxpayers’ money is handled responsibly,” is dunning the White House to put an Air Force jet at her disposal – reportedly, not only for her use, but for her family’s as well. . . .
But all of this luxury doesn’t come cheap. Hourly operating costs for an Air Force C-32–the planes that typically carry the vice president, the first lady, and Cabinet officials–are about $15,000 an hour.
So for one of those planes to fly the speaker home to San Francisco, drop her off, and fly back and get her, would cost taxpayers around $300,000 – while round-trip commercial fares start at $233. That doesn’t qualify as “waste and abuse”?
According to FAS.org, the C-32 is “configured for 45 passengers and 16 crew, [and] is designed for a 4,150 nautical mile mission, roughly the distance from Andrews to Frankfurt, Germany.” It also has an open bar.
The C-32
