Friday, February 9, 2007
Nancy Pelosi Wants Bedroom on Jet
Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet.
Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel.
Some sources are claiming that Pelosi demanded access to the C-32, which seats 45 and has a stateroom for the primary passenger, a conference facility, an entertainment system and three convertible beds.
But the Los Angeles Times reports that the military passenger plane that can make a cross-country flight in any weather and also provide the communications needed to stay in contact with the White House is the C-40, which is described by the Air Force as an "office in the sky.”
Derived from the Boeing 737-700C, it can seat up to 120 passengers and has beds and two galleys.
Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly acknowledged that the speaker has asked if family and friends can fly with her on business travel.
Some Republicans are raising a stink over Pelosi’s moves. "Flying Lincoln bedroom,” Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said in story appearing in the Washington Times.
"Pelosi One” said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina in the same article.
But spokesman Daly said the flap was "ridiculous.”
And Pelosi herself told the media on Wednesday that the request for the plane "has nothing to do with family and friends and everything to do with security. It’s a question of distance.”
She also said that she only wanted - as a female speaker of the house - what any male speaker of the house has had.
But most people do not fly cross-country with a bedroom.
Curiously, Pelosi has suggested that the Bush administration was behind the flap, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"The ... misrepresentation could [only] be coming from the administration, and one would only have to wonder why,” Pelosi said, even though White House Press Secretary Tony Snow says the speaker is not asking for anything unreasonable, that the whole affair is much ado about nothing, and that the military and the speaker are working things out.
According to the Air Force, at least 21 people can request the use of the C-40s, and there are only four of the aircraft available. Potential users include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Cabinet secretaries. The planes are also used to fly congressional delegations to military theaters.
A senior Defense Department official said the aircraft Pelosi would be offered could sometimes include the larger plane.
Critics charge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is abusing the perks of power by asking for a jumbo military jet with sleeping accommodations for her flights across the country.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet.
Pelosi wants a larger aircraft that can fly to her San Francisco district without stopping to refuel.
Some sources are claiming that Pelosi demanded access to the C-32, which seats 45 and has a stateroom for the primary passenger, a conference facility, an entertainment system and three convertible beds.
But the Los Angeles Times reports that the military passenger plane that can make a cross-country flight in any weather and also provide the communications needed to stay in contact with the White House is the C-40, which is described by the Air Force as an "office in the sky.”
Derived from the Boeing 737-700C, it can seat up to 120 passengers and has beds and two galleys.
Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly acknowledged that the speaker has asked if family and friends can fly with her on business travel.
Some Republicans are raising a stink over Pelosi’s moves. "Flying Lincoln bedroom,” Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said in story appearing in the Washington Times.
"Pelosi One” said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina in the same article.
But spokesman Daly said the flap was "ridiculous.”
And Pelosi herself told the media on Wednesday that the request for the plane "has nothing to do with family and friends and everything to do with security. It’s a question of distance.”
She also said that she only wanted - as a female speaker of the house - what any male speaker of the house has had.
But most people do not fly cross-country with a bedroom.
Curiously, Pelosi has suggested that the Bush administration was behind the flap, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"The ... misrepresentation could [only] be coming from the administration, and one would only have to wonder why,” Pelosi said, even though White House Press Secretary Tony Snow says the speaker is not asking for anything unreasonable, that the whole affair is much ado about nothing, and that the military and the speaker are working things out.
According to the Air Force, at least 21 people can request the use of the C-40s, and there are only four of the aircraft available. Potential users include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Cabinet secretaries. The planes are also used to fly congressional delegations to military theaters.
A senior Defense Department official said the aircraft Pelosi would be offered could sometimes include the larger plane.
