President Donald Trump\u2019s new Air Force One will remain in service, for now, after Senate Republicans blocked an attempt to prevent taxpayer dollars from upgrading the aircraft.
\nDemocrats have spent the last year sounding the alarm over the Boeing 747-8 luxury jet gifted to Trump by Qatar over the hefty price tag to retrofit the aircraft and the security risks that it could pose in serving as the main plane for the president.
\nAfter Trump\u2019s surprising admission over the weekend about the jet, which was unveiled as the latest addition to the Air Force One fleet by the White House last month, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tried to halt any taxpayer funds from flowing to the project.
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The administration estimated that upgrading the aircraft, which already has a base value of $400 million, could cost up to $1 billion.\u00a0
\n\u201cThe luxury jet may have come wrapped in a bow for Donald Trump, but it came with a massive price tag for the American people,\u201d Schumer said on the Senate floor. \u201cTrump is asking taxpayers to fork over an estimated $1 billion to retrofit, and max out his flying palace, so it can meet the security standards of the existing Air Force One fleet.\u201d
\n\u201cThat, of course, we already paid for,\u201d he continued. \u201cAmericans can\u2019t afford gas, can\u2019t afford groceries, can\u2019t afford their electric bill. But Trump thinks they can afford to fly him in style.\u201d
\nSchumer tried to forcefully pass his bill, Presidential Airlift Security Act, Wednesday afternoon, which would require that no Department of War funding may go to the purchase, modification, restoration or maintenance of an aircraft previously owned by a foreign government.
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And it comes after Trump, after pressure from the Secret Service, opted to fly back to the U.S. from Turkey in a different plane than the new Air Force One because of a lack of proper security enhancements, like countermeasures for heat-seeking missiles.
\nTrump told reporters on Sunday, when asked why the deterrence systems weren\u2019t visible on the new plane, said that the plane, \u201chas a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they\u2019re going to send it to have it be maxed out.\u201d
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\nWhite House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump, and told reporters on Monday that while the new Air Force One is \u201cperfectly safe for the president\u2019s travels,\u201d it was slated to receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall that would keep the plane on the ground for a month.
\n\u201cDuring that time, the president will fly on the old Air Force One,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Schumer\u2019s gamble was promptly blocked by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., who argued that the legislation was more far reaching than just halting taxpayer dollars from upgrading the Qatari jet, and hamper the country\u2019s capabilities in the face of a nuclear threat.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, this legislation would also apply to a different aircraft, the Survivable Air Operations Center aircraft, or SAOC,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cThose aircraft were actually purchased from Korean Air. So this legislation would hamper a crucial program that ensures presidential safety in the event of a nuclear war.\u201d
\nShe argued that the SAOC played a crucial role in the nation\u2019s planning in response to a nuclear threat \u2014 Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications, known as NC3 \u2014 and that Schumer\u2019s move would \u201csignificantly harm\u201d the country\u2019s key nuclear deterrent.
\n\u201cThis is the plane that will command and control our nuclear weapons on America\u2019s worst day. We cannot play these political games with the NC three,\u201d Fischer said.<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on https:\/\/www.foxnews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"