Press Release
Boeing and Lockheed Fly High as Senate Considers More Fighter Jets
Related Issues
Boeing and Lockheed Martin will be watching the Senate closely this week as it considers the defense authorization bill, which includes $1.75 billion for seven new F-22 Raptors that Defense Secretary Robert Gates says are not needed. Combined, these two companies have given nearly $1.4 million in campaign contributions so far this year to 50 senators as the companies have fought to continue funding for the much-criticized fighter jet. In addition, the two defense giants have spent nearly $9 million lobbying Congress, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Indeed, both Lockheed and Boeing’s lobbying operations are in supersonic overdrive around the issue, and the companies have spent $6.5 million and $2.4 million, respectively, on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, CRP data shows. They are working against Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Carl Levin (D-MI), who have committed to cutting funding for more F-22s. Secretary Gates has said the 187 Lockheed Martin-produced F-22s now in the Air Force fleet or in production are sufficient to combat current and future threats and that more are not needed.
“Lockheed and Boeing are practicing the time-honored Washington tradition of spending big to influence and buy access to protect their bottom lines,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “Until we get defense contractors and other special interests out of the business of paying for congressional campaigns, we’ll be making jets we don’t need and spending billions of taxpayer dollars that could be better used for other critical needs like education and health care.”
So far, the two companies have chalked up some successes with all that spending. Congress recently passed a separate supplemental spending bill for conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan that included an additional $600 million for the procurement of four new F-22 fighters and barred the use of those funds to shut-down the F-22 production line, as the Obama Administration had wanted.
The F-22 is not new to controversy. In June 2006, the Government Accountability Office wrote to the then-chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), stating, “in our opinion, the [Department of Defense] has not demonstrated the need or value for making further investments” in the F-22 program. Secretary Gates has been an outspoken critic of the F-22 and specifically cut funding for it in his proposed 2010 Pentagon budget.
Yet not only does the funding remain in the defense authorization bill passed by the House and under consideration now in the Senate, but Sens. McCain and Levin face an uphill battle to pull it out, even though the President doesn’t want it, the Secretary of Defense doesn’t want it, and even the Air Force has said it doesn’t need it.
Common Cause continues to work to pass the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826 / S.752) as the comprehensive solution to the pay-to-play culture in Washington, DC, which would create a citizen-funded election system for Congress in which candidates could run for office on a blend of small donations and public funds.
Campaign Contributions from Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin to U.S. Senators
2009-2010 Election Cycle
Senators
Boeing
Lockheed
Total
Inouye, Daniel K. (D-HI)
$27,000
$59,800
$86,800
McCain, John (R-AZ)
$82,975
$82,975
Murray, Patty (D-WA)
$79,000
$79,000
Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA)
$69,600
$69,600
Cornyn, John (R-TX)
$22,000
$37,300
$59,300
Sessions, Jeff (R-AL)
$25,250
$31,150
$56,400
Shelby, Richard C. (R-AL)
$35,500
$17,300
$52,800
Roberts, Pat (R-KS)
$35,750
$15,000
$50,750
Graham, Lindsey (R-SC)
$27,500
$22,600
$50,100
Cochran, Thad (R-MS)
$33,000
$15,000
$48,000
Bond, Christopher S. (R-MO)
$46,800
$46,800
Reed, Jack (D-RI)
$17,000
$29,500
$46,500
Cantwell, Maria (D-WA)
$44,650
$44,650
Reid, Harry (D-NV)
$20,000
$24,250
$44,250
Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)
$15,500
$21,500
$37,000
Nelson, Bill (D-FL)
$18,500
$17,650
$36,150
Kennedy, Edward M. (D-MA)
$23,500
$23,500
Mikulski, Barbara A. (D-MD)
$23,000
$23,000
Inhofe, James M. (R-OK)
$10,750
$12,000
$22,750
Baucus, Max (D-MT)
$22,000
$22,000
Levin, Carl (D-MI)
$12,000
$10,000
$22,000
Nelson, Ben (D-NE)
$21,000
$21,000
Rockefeller, John D., IV (D-WV)
$10,000
$11,000
$21,000
Leahy, Patrick J. (D-VT)
$7,750
$13,000
$20,750
Dorgan, Byron L. (D-ND)
$12,000
$8,000
$20,000
Landrieu, Mary L. (D-LA)
$19,650
$19,650
McCaskill, Claire (D-MO)
$18,100
$18,100
Durbin, Richard J. (D-IL)
$18,000
$18,000
Isakson, Johnny (R-GA)
$17,000
$17,000
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX)
$15,625
$15,625
Akaka, Daniel K. (D-HI)
$6,000
$9,000
$15,000
Pryor, Mark L. (D-AR)
$15,000
$15,000
Bingaman, Jeff (D-NM)
$14,633
$14,633
Lautenberg, Frank R. (D-NJ)
$14,250
$14,250
Conrad, Kent (D-ND)
$13,500
$13,500
Udall, Mark (D-CO)
$13,500
$13,500
Lincoln, Blanche L. (D-AR)
$11,500
$11,500
Byrd, Robert C. (D-WV)
$11,000
$11,000
Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD)
$10,000
$10,000
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY)
$10,000
$10,000
Hatch, Orrin G. (R-UT)
$10,000
$10,000
Lugar, Richard G. (R-IN)
$10,000
$10,000
Snowe, Olympia J. (R-ME)
$10,000
$10,000
Enzi, Michael B. (R-WY)
$9,000
$9,000
Thune, John (R-SD)
$7,700
$7,700
Schumer, Charles E. (D-NY)
$7,500
$7,500
Begich, Mark (D-AK)
$5,500
$5,500
Risch, James E. (R-ID)
$5,000
$5,000
Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK)
$3,000
$3,000
Brownback, Sam (R-KS)
$2,500
$2,500
Alexander, Lamar (R-TN)
$0
Barrasso, John (R-WY)
$0
Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
$0
Bennet, Michael F. (D-CO)
$0
Bennett, Robert F. (R-UT)
$0
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
$0
Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)
$0
Bunning, Jim (R-KY)
$0
Burr, Richard (R-NC)
$0
Burris, Roland W. (D-IL)
$0
Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE)
$0
Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA)
$0
Coburn, Tom (R-OK)
$0
Corker, Bob (R-TN)
$0
Crapo, Mike (R-ID)
$0
DeMint, Jim (R-SC)
$0
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
$0
Ensign, John (R-NV)
$0
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
$0
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
$0
Franken, Al (D-MN)
$0
Grassley, Chuck (R-IA)
$0
Gregg, Judd (R-NH)
$0
Hagan, Kay R. (D-NC)
$0
Harkin, Tom (D-IA)
$0
Johanns, Mike (R-NE)
$0
Johnson, Tim (D-SD)
$0
Kaufman, Edward E. (D-DE)
$0
Kerry, John F. (D-MA)
$0
Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN)
$0
Kohl, Herb (D-WI)
$0
Kyl, Jon (R-AZ)
$0
Lieberman, Joseph I. (ID-CT)
$0
Martinez, Mel (R-FL)
$0
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY)
$0
Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)
$0
Merkley, Jeff (D-OR)
$0
Sanders, Bernard (I-VT)
$0
Shaheen, Jeanne (D-NH)
$0
Specter, Arlen (D-PA)
$0
Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI)
$0
Tester, Jon (D-MT)
$0
Udall, Tom (D-NM)
$0
Vitter, David (R-LA)
$0
Voinovich, George V. (R-OH)
$0
Warner, Mark R. (D-VA)
$0
Webb, Jim (D-VA)
$0
Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)
$0
Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS)
$0
Wyden, Ron (D-OR)
$0
Total
$593,550
$780,483
$1,374,033
Source: Center for Responsive Politics
This table lists the top donors to the senator or his or her Leadership PAC in the 2009 – 2010 election cycle. The companies themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the companies’ PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
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