Senators to Trump on Air Force One: It’s your airplane

Senators are reacting with amusement and bewilderment to President-elect Donald Trump’s declaration Tuesday that he wants to cancel a contract to build the new Air Force One.

Several lawmakers laughed when told about Trump’s announcement, made on Twitter, seemingly resigned to the fact that the real estate mogul will not play by the normal rules of politics and cannot be stopped from making off-the-cuff pronouncements on social media.


Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) smiled when informed of Trump’s tweet and said that if “it will save money or if he can negotiate a better deal, that’s good for the taxpayers.” Others, including Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), laughed and said they wouldn’t comment on the latest in a string of policy pronouncements made by Trump via Twitter.

One senator who wasn’t laughing was Washington Democrat Patty Murray, whose constituents have a direct stake in the contract to build the new planes, which would replace the aging aircraft now used for presidential travel. Aerospace giant Boeing is expected to build the planes in her home state. Boeing is under contract to build two planes.

“The workers of my state and the workers of Boeing across this country do an incredible job and build an incredible airplane,” she said. “I hope the president-elect takes the time to talk to the Pentagon and the Air Force and Boeing about how defense contracts work before he tweets.”

Two top defense hawks who have oversight over the contract to replace the current Air Force One fleet said Trump can do what he wants when it comes to the planes used to transport presidents.

“It’s up to him — it’s his plane,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “If he can get it done cheaper, good.”

The committee’s chairman, John McCain, said it was Trump’s “prerogative” to question the costs of the new planes.

“It’s going to be his airplane,” said the Arizona Republican. “I’m concerned about the costs as well.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Reed, the panel’s ranking Democrat, said he was “still reviewing” the issue but took note of how unusual it is for a president-elect to weigh in on individual defense contracts.

“I think it’s traditional that presidents-elect can lay out broad policy and notions, but individual decisions are usually reserved until you take the office,” said the Rhode Island senator.

Trump, who has pledged to rebuild the military while cracking down on wasteful Pentagon spending, issued his seemingly out-of-nowhere tweet on Tuesday morning. “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion,” he wrote. “Cancel order!”

The Air Force in July issued a $127 million contract to Boeing to begin planning and doing some of the preliminary work for the new planes.

The Air Force plans to spend nearly $3 billion on the new planes over the next five years, according to budget documents, and it’s unclear exactly where Trump got his $4 billion figure. Most of the cost of the program is to modify a Boeing 747 commercial airplane for the president, who has unique security needs and has to be able to send and receive classified information.

But Trump himself will not be using the new Air Force Ones, which aren’t set to be ready for another decade.

“He would never fly in this plane because it wouldn’t even be in the air until 2024 probably at the earliest,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who questioned Trump’s $4 billion number and said he “needs to get his facts straight before he starts tweeting.”

“As you guys remember, President Obama canceled Marine One — that was way over budget and very expensive and had too many requirements that had been loaded,” McCaskill added in reference to the presidential helicopter fleet. “So I think it’s great [Trump] wants to take a hard look at contracts.”

Connor O'Brien contributed to this report.