Pencil pushers spared, Ayotte succeeds in placing A-1 amendment in House bill

Senator Ayotte worked successfully with the House Armed Services Committee to incorporate the A-10 language below into to the existing limitation in the House bill on the Global Hawk.

While it is not as good as S.1764/SA.2063, given everything that has happened in the Senate in the last few weeks with the absence of an NDAA amendment process, A-10 supporters are pleased.

The effect of this language would be to prohibit any additional A-10 divestments before December 31, 2014.

Unfortunately, the Air Force would be allowed to complete the FY 2013 divestment from Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was more difficult to stop that because they are using prior year money/authorization.

However, this language will not allow the Air Force to “retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage” any additional A-10 aircraft before December 31, 2014.

This has five major benefits:

1) It will give us the certainty that the Air Force will not be able to divest any additional A-10s next year while we work aggressively to build the case and pass a more extensive prohibition in next year’s NDAA;

2) It will prevent the Air Force from moving up their divestment plan into FY 2014;

3) It would actually continue the restriction into the first 3 months of FY 2015 (October, November, and December 2014)—when the Air Force was apparently going to begin the final divestment;

4) By making the prohibition the calendar year versus the fiscal year, it would also ensure there is no gap between the expiration of this restriction and the passage of the FY 2015 NDAA (which would probably not occur until November or December of 2015).

5) This will send a major signal to the Air Force and the Department of Defense that they will face determined and long-term opposition on and off the Hill to any effort that seeks final divestment of the A-10 before its replacement reaches full operational capability and will suggest that they should look elsewhere in the Air Force budget (e.g. bloated headquarters staffs) to find the budget savings they need—without putting our troops in additional danger in future conflicts.

In short, while this outcome is not as good as Senator Ayotte’s amendment and supporters would have liked to have had an open amendment process in the Senate, however this is a major interim victory as we attempt to prevent the Air Force from divesting the A-10 before its replacement reaches full operational capability.

However, none of this will happen if the NDAA fails to pass.

The House is expected to vote on this version of the NDAA before Friday at 11 a.m. Most believe the House will pass the NDAA in an overwhelming and bipartisan vote. The bill would then come to the Senate next week for disposition and a vote. If the Senate decides to amend it, an NDAA will not be passed this year.

If the Senate does not pass the NDAA, this would mean there would be no restriction on the Air Force A-10 divestment plan for the foreseeable future and the Air Force could start the final divestment of A-10s at any point.

There are several Senators that are considering voting against the NDAA for a variety of reasons.

Supporters of close air support and the A-10 are asked to contact their Senator between today and Monday and tell them to “support our troops, support Senator Ayotte’s close air support efforts, and pass the National Defense Authorization Act in December.”

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