The fight for the air tanker contract between Boeing and Airbus spilled into the battle for a U.S. Senate seat between Sen. Patty Murray and Dino Rossi today.
Rossi, the Republican challenger, said today he doesn’t think Airbus’ receipt of illegal subsidies should be a factor considered by the Pentagon in making its decision.
“No, not as far as I’m concerned, no,” Rossi told editors of the Tacoma News-Tribune today.
Rossi’s comment, found at 21:15 of the webcast, came in a follow-up to a question on whether he thought the subsidies should be a “factor in the awarding of the tanker contract.”
WTO ruled last year that Airbus received substantial aid from France. The World Trade Organization last week came out with a preliminary ruling that Boeing may also have received subsidies for its business in this country, though it appears it is for a far smaller amount of money.
The question to Rossi referenced both WTO rulings. It seemed pretty clear the editors wanted to know if he felt the finding against Airbus should be considered by the Pentagon decision-makers.
Murray, the incumbent Democrat, has argued since last year that the Pentagon must consider the WTO findings.
She reiterated that today, saying, last year’s ruling “shows there is a strong, uneven playing field that we have had to compete in which allows Airbus to sell their platform, airplane platform, at a much lower price that what we can here. I think it’s absolutely critical that the Pentagon take that into account when they’re awarding the tanker contract particularly at a time when our economy is struggling and our people are out of work and we need to make sure American taxpayer dollars go to build a tanker here in our country.”
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