With lobbying reformitis in full swing on Capitol Hill, the Houston Chronicle has trotted out the latest stats for lawmaker travel expenses. The Chronicle points out, as others have in the past, that the figures compiled by Congress calculate only meals and lodging for trips by congressional delegations—or “codels” in Hill-speak. The big-ticket item—airfare—never shows up. Why? Because Codels fly military air. According to the Air Force, flying a lawmaker on the military equivalent of a Boeing 737 or 757 airliner costs more than $21,000 per hour.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.