John Murtha takes up Pelosi's bid for a big plane

The National Ledger is reporting that John Murtha has gone to the Pentagon on behalf of Pelosi's request for a larger plane in order to take her, her staff, or her family back and forth across the US.

The airplane scandal for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is ramping up. One of her main allies, Congressman John Murtha is stepping up and in his own words is telling the Pentagon what to do. According to a report from the San Francisco chronicle, Murtha, who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort.

But he denied pressuring the Pentagon. "I don't need to pressure them. I just tell them what they need to do,'' Murtha said.

I haven't figured out why Pelosi needs a plane that seats 45 and carries a crew of 16 just to get her from Washington, DC to California, her home state, and back again. Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. The Defense Department agreed to this after the 2001 attacks, because he was 2nd in line to be President of the US.

Pelosi said she would be happy to fly on commercial airliners but said the House sergeant-at-arms office urged her to continue Hastert's practice of using Air Force transport. She said she was informed on her first trip home that her plane would not make it across the country.

"I said well, that's fine, I'm going commercial," she told Fox News. "I'm not asking to go on that plane. If you need to take me there for security purposes, you're going to have to get a plane that goes across the country, because I'm going home to my family" in San Francisco.

So, she would be happy to fly on a commercial flight? Well, why the push for such a big airplane? And, why does she think she and her family, and perhaps staff, should fly free on the backs of the US taxpayers? If she wants to go home - okay, give her a small plane and fly her, but I do not think it's right that she gets extra amenities for her family.

But, apparently, Pelosi did request a C-32, which would cost $22,000 an hour to fly.

According to ABC News it features a communications center, a fully enclosed stateroom for the primary passenger, a changing area, a conference facility, an entertainment system, and a convertible divan that seats three and folds out to a bed. The C-32 can cost as much as $22,000 an hour to operate.

Linked at Church and State

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