Rep. Gary L. Ackerman Holds a Hearing On Pakistan's F-16 Program
Political Transcript Wire › August 28, 2009
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Rep. Gary L. Ackerman Holds a Hearing On Pakistan's F-16 Program
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA HOLDS A HEARING ON PAKISTAN'S F-16 PROGRAM
SEPTEMBER 16, 2008SPEAKERS: REP. GARY L. ACKERMAN, D-N.Y. CHAIRMAN REP. DAVID SCOTT, D-GA. REP. JIM COSTA, D-CALIF. REP. RON KLEIN, D-FLA. REP. BRAD SHERMAN, D-CALIF. REP. ROBERT WEXLER, D-FLA. REP. ELIOT L. ENGEL, D-N.Y. REP. RUSS CARNAHAN, D-MO. REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, D-TEXAS REP. HOWARD L. BERMAN, D-CALIF. EX OFFICIOREP. MIKE PENCE, R-IND. RANKING MEMBER REP. STEVE CHABOT, R-OHIO REP. JOE WILSON, R-S.C. REP. J. GRESHAM BARRETT, R-S.C. REP. JEFF FORTENBERRY, R-NEB. REP. BOB INGLIS, R-S.C. REP. CONNIE MACK, R-FLA. REP. GUS BILIRAKIS, R-FLA. REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, R-FLA. EX OFFICIOWITNESSES: VICE ADMIRAL JEFFREY WIERINGA (USN), DIRECTOR, DEFENSE SECURITY COOPERATION AGENCYDONALD CAMP, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE FRANK RUGGIERO, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATEMITCHELL SHIVERS, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR ASIAN AND PACIFIC SECURITY AFFAIRSMAJOR GENERAL BURON FIELD, VICE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PLANS AND POLICY FOR THE JOINT STAFF[*] ACKERMAN: On July 16th of this year, the State Department notified the full committee that it intended to reprogram $226 million in foreign military financing that had been provided to Pakistan in order to support a portion of the cost of the mid-life update of Pakistan's F-16 fleet. The total cost of the MLU portion of the F-16 program was $890 million. As I understand it, the administration is also seeking to use $110 million in fiscal year 2009 funding for this purpose as well. This, despite earlier assurances that with the exception of the $109 million, the rest of the cost of the F-16 program would be borne by the government of Pakistan not the taxpayers of the United States. It now turns out that the taxpayers are on the hook for $445 million or half the cost of the MLU program. It also turns out that the government of Pakistan has been operating on the presumption or maybe even with the assurance all along that the United States would foot half the bill yet the administration disclosed this fact only in the course of notifying Congress about the reprogramming. It makes one wonder what other assumptions the government of Pakistan has made or assurances they have received about who's paying for their F-16s that the administration either doesn't know or hasn't disclosed. The problems with this process are manifold. This notification and the cavalier discard for the concerns about the appropriate uses of FMS raised by members of this committee, Chairman Berman particularly, is further evidence of the contempt that this administration treats the Congress and the American people generally and it's a practice that began with the initial notification of the sale of F-16s to Pakistan back in June of 2006. That time, the administration chose to ignore 30 years of precedence and preempt ongoing consultation between the committee and the administration by sending forward the formal notification before those consultations were concluded. If the administration is going to rewrite the rules regarding on sales and ignore the concerns of this committee regarding the use of military assistance, then I think it is incumbent on the committee to review the ways that these sales are approved and the way funding is reprogrammed. Instead of the current process which has Congress as a passive actor in these decisions, I propose that we take a more active role. I believe that Congress should vote affirmatively to approve arm sales to particular countries if these proposed sales are above a certain dollar value. We could establish an expedited process to ensure that once the sale is notified, Congress would act one way or the other. But as it stands now, most members who do not sit on this committee have no idea what we sell and who whom. Just as often, such questions go wholly unexamined. And even if members did object, the current process leaves them with virtually no op...See the full content of this document
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