Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England chided Senators who fear the C-17 production line may be shut down too early, saying, “At some point, we do have to stop the production of this airplane.” And, then, he got down to brass tacks—it was the money. England maintained that the “analysis” showed 180 C-17s to be “a sufficient quantity,” but then finished with: “We always have this tradeoff in terms of what’s the greatest priority need. And that was our decision last year.”
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
