By: Jake Johnson July 28, 2020 In a floor speech late Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described the GOP’s newly released coronavirus stimulus package as a “carefully tailored” plan to provide financial relief to desperate Americans. But a look at the legislative text (pdf) released by Senate Republicans shows the HEALS Act is replete […]
By: Joe Gould July 29, 2020 WASHINGTON ― Senate Republicans’ proposed $1 trillion coronavirus relief package includes at least $7 billion for weapons programs, part of $29 billion for defense overall. The 177-page draft appropriations legislation unveiled Monday would include funding for military helicopters, aircraft, ships and missile defense systems. The bill also includes $11 […]
By Steven Klafka and Rosanne Greco May 8, 2020 The alarming coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that we must be less wasteful and much wiser in how we spend taxpayer money. The enormous human and economic toll of this pandemic has been exacerbated by our failure to invest in societal needs like our health care […]
By Kevin McCallum April 3, 2020 Commercial air traffic at Burlington International Airport has taken a nosedive, but across the runway, the Vermont Air National Guard continues to send its new F-35s roaring into the skies daily. The juxtaposition of the recent plunge in civilian air traffic with an increase in the number of F-35s […]
By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Nov. 11, 2019 South Burlington officials are worried their city might have to foot some of the bill for noise mitigation after the arrival of the F-35s, reviving a decades-long debate about airport governance. While the Federal Aviation Administration is funding 90% of the noise mitigation programs, the funding source for […]
By: Dan Grazier for POGO, Nov. 1, 2019 Pentagon leaders are likely reveling in the news that they have negotiated an agreement with Lockheed Martin that they claim drives down the unit cost of the F-35 joint strike fighter to below $80 million in the next few years. While any reduction in costs for the most expensive […]
By: Jasper Craven for VTDigger, Sept. 11, 2019 On Sept. 4, 1985, then-Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders held an impromptu press conference to announce that the city’s ambitious street and sidewalk upgrades were ahead of schedule. After questions about work on specific Burlington streets, reporters turned to a more contentious topic: the recent arrest and imprisonment of […]
By: Aidan Quigley for VTDigger, Sept. 9, 2019 BURLINGTON — Police arrested two retired Air Force officers Monday evening for refusing to leave Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office in downtown Burlington, as part of an ongoing protest against the basing of F-35s at Burlington International Airport. Retired Col. Rosanne Greco and retired Lt. Col. Roger Bourassa […]
By: Ellen Mitchell for The Hill, Mar. 15, 2019 Pentagon officials did not account for and manage $2.1 billion worth of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter parts and must now rely on the aircraft’s maker, Lockheed Martin, to tell them where and when it spent the funds, according to a new watchdog report. The scathing report from the Defense […]