{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/following-visit-to-139th-airlift-wing-mccaskill-pushes-air-force-for-budget-certainty", "Following Visit to 139th Airlift Wing, McCaskill Pushes Air Force for Budget Certainty", "2016-10-07", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Following Visit to 139th Airlift Wing, McCaskill Pushes Air Force for Budget Certainty \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senator continues efforts to secure long term funding for base operations, programs \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFriday, October 7, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 Following a visit to the 139th Airlift Wing as part of her recent Security & Defense Tour of Missouri, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is pushing the Air Force to secure budget certainty for the 139th Airlift Wing in St. Joseph.\r\n\u201cThese unique courses, which are not found elsewhere in the Air Force, provide the opportunity for pilots and aircrews from the National Guard, Air Force Reserve, Active Duty and Coalition Partner Nations to train on the most advanced tactics on Mobility Air Force weapons systems,\u201d McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, wrote in a letter to Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice, Director of the Air National Guard. \u201cWithout the stable budgeting and assigned personnel associated with programmatic funding, these courses will struggle to provide the high level of training our fliers deserve.\u201d\r\nMcCaskill continued in a separate letter to General Carlton D. Everhart II, Commander, Air Mobility Command, \u201cI sincerely hope you will work with the Air National Guard to ensure these strategically important courses are explicitly programmed in the fiscal year 2018 budget and subsequent budgets.\u201d\r\nMcCaskill is a longtime advocate for the Missouri National Guard\u2019s 139th Airlift Wing. This summer, as part of her Security & Defense Tour, McCaskill visited the 139th where she received a classified briefing from base leaders and heard directly from intelligence analysts examining the actions of America\u2019s adversaries. Last month McCaskill raised budget uncertainty concerns she heard on her tour with top Pentagon officials, discussing the uniquely important role of the base\u2019s Advanced Airlift and Tactics Training Center and weapons instructor course in training fliers from the National Guard and Active Duty, as well as visiting pilots from international partner countries\u2014and why that means it\u2019s critical these courses get long-term funding for their long-term mission.\r\nIn her push to call for an \u201chonest defense budget our men and women in uniform deserve,\u201d McCaskill has consistently called on Republican leaders in Congress to properly budget for military operations. Under the plan proposed by the House of Representatives, the Department of Defense is slated to run out of war funding halfway through the 2017 fiscal year.\r\nBecause the 139th Airlift Wing has tactics development experts working in the same facility as intelligence analysts, changes to policy can be quickly assembled and disseminated to elements in the Active Duty, Air Force Reserve, and National Guard. Currently, the Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center and C-130H Weapons Instructor courses\u2014the only ones in the Air Force\u2014are not explicitly programmed for in the budget and are funded year-to-year by either the Air National Guard or the Air Mobility Command, leaving the critically important programs without long-term certainty.\r\nFind full text of the letters HERE.\r\nVisit\u00a0mccaskill.senate.gov/defense\u00a0to learn more about McCaskill's fight to protect our national security.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/following-visit-to-139th-airlift-wing-mccaskill-pushes-air-force-for-budget-certainty"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7395010218024254, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}