Washington, DC – Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) ranking member of the House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, spearheaded a letter signed by 57 legislators to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates regarding the need to budget for critical C-17 military transport aircraft.

Congressman Akin spearheaded the authorization of funding for eight C-17s this year.

As stated in the letter:

“For each of the last two years, the United States Air Force (USAF) has not funded any C-17s in the President’s budget submission. USAF leaders have expressed concerns during recent Congressional hearings regarding their inability to procure additional C-17s and have asked the House of Representatives to add funding for C-17s during the appropriation process. While this approach was successful last year and may work again this year, there is widespread dissatisfaction in the House with this strategy. We instead are strongly urging that the USAF and DoD fully fund C-17 production in their FY 09 budget submission.”