Republicans reject Democrats' amendment to block Trump from taking Qatari jet after presidency

Source: msn/The Hill

12h


Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday rejected what they described as a “poison pill” amendment that Democrats say is intended to block President Trump from taking the Qatari luxury jet that the Pentagon intends to use as Air Force One with him after his presidency.

The committee voted 15-14 against adopting the amendment during consideration of the annual defense funding bill. The amendment offered by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a senior appropriator, sought to block funds from being used in a manner that would enable transfer of “a presidential air transport aircraft that has been under foreign registry to a nongovernmental entity until the aircraft has served as a presidential air transport aircraft through the end of its service life.”

During the markup session, Murphy cited recent reporting about the potential costs of upgrading the Boeing 747-8, which was previously used by the Qatari royal family.

“This is an extraordinary amount of money to be used on a plane retrofit that will likely only be in service for a short period of time. Well, the administration has essentially refused to brief us on the full cost,” he said. “Reports are that this number could be easily $1 billion.”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-reject-democrats-amendment-to-block-trump-from-taking-qatari-jet-after-presidency/ar-AA1JGrX4