releases: https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/following-visit-to-139th-airlift-wing-mccaskill-pushes-air-force-for-budget-certainty
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| 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 | legacy | Following Visit to 139th Airlift Wing, McCaskill Pushes Air Force for Budget Certainty Senator continues efforts to secure long term funding for base operations, programs Friday, October 7, 2016 WASHINGTON – 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. “These 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,” 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. “Without the stable budgeting and assigned personnel associated with programmatic funding, these courses will struggle to provide the high level of training our fliers deserve.” McCaskill continued in a separate letter to General Carlton D. Everhart II, Commander, Air Mobility Command, “I 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.” McCaskill is a longtime advocate for the Missouri National Guard’s 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’s 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’s 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—and why that means it’s critical these courses get long-term funding for their long-term mission. In her push to call for an “honest defense budget our men and women in uniform deserve,” 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. Because 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—the only ones in the Air Force—are 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. Find full text of the letters HERE. Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/defense to learn more about McCaskill's fight to protect our national security. ### Print Email Tweet | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |