WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Austin Scott (GA-08), a member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), questioned General David L. Goldfein, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force (USAF), on how a continuing resolution (CR) would negatively affect USAF’s ability to modernize the aging E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) aircraft fleet.

“Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the average age of an aircraft in the Air Force today is twenty-seven years old, and some fleets like the critically important JSTARS fleet are nearly fifty years old. For the sake of our airborne battle management, we simply can’t have that,” said Rep. Austin Scott. “Today, the House Armed Services Committee received confirmation from Gen. Goldfein on the negative affects a short term CR would have on the modernization of our nation’s military asset, and I would urge my colleagues to oppose any budget deal that puts at risk the safety of our warfighters and our ability to remain ready, react to any crisis, and protect the homeland.”

Rep. Scott continued: “I am proud to serve as a voice for Robins and Moody Air Force Bases on the Committee, and I am committed to working with my colleagues to pass a responsible appropriations bill as well as the supplemental requested by the Military Services that meets the requirements our military needs to keep our homeland and men and women in uniform safe and prepared to take on any threats.”

Click here to watch Rep. Scott’s exchange with Gen. Goldfein.

[[{"fid":"369","view_mode":"full","fields":{"format":"full","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"style":"width: 479px; height: 250px;","class":"media-element file-full"}}]]

JSTARS is a joint program that provides critical airborne surveillance, intelligence, and command and control to our military through on-board radar and computer subsystems equipment that gathers and distributes detailed battlefield information. Combatant Commanders utilize the JSTARS fleet around the world, being based at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, GA.

In December, Congress passed the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act of 2017 (P.L. 114–254) as a temporary spending measure to fund appropriations for most federal agencies. Commonly referred to as a continuing resolution (CR), the legislation prevented a partial government shutdown that would have otherwise occurred when the existing CR expired on December 9, 2016. The CR was necessary because eleven of the twelve FY2017 regular appropriations bills that fund the federal government had not been enacted at the time.

Congress must pass an appropriations act or another CR (which would continue to fund the Government at FY16 levels) by April 28, 2017, or risk a government shutdown. Passing another CR, as opposed to a new appropriations bill, would continue to provide the military base funding at levels below the discretionary cap for National Defense in the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011, as amended by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015. These lower funding levels would negatively affect USAF’s ability to modernize the JSTARS fleet.

Additionally, billions of dollars would be misaligned among accounts due to the spending constraints imposed by a lack of FY17 authorities.

Click here to watch the full hearing.

-30-