WASHINGTON, DC – Friday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) praised the final passage of her amendment to protect the 36th Rescue Flight (36 RQF) helicopters at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, WA. Cantwell’s amendment passed the Senate by unanimous consent on September 17, 2007 and was made final in the Department of Defense Authorization Act Conference Report with the vote today.  With today’s vote in the Senate of 90 to 3, the bill heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

 

“Fairchild’s Rescue Flight helicopters train thousands of aircrews each year how to survive real combat situations in helicopters and over 35 years, they have rescued more than 600 people in the Northwest,” said Cantwell. “They provide irreplaceable training for our men and women in uniform in live rescue hoists, parachute drops, and combat rescues, not to mention the critical search and rescue capabilities for the nation and Northwest communities.  This amendment is one more step to help ensure the men and women of the Air Force get the safe, realistic, and quality mission-critical training they need. In the year ahead, I will continue to fight to keep the helicopters at Fairchild where they belong.”

 

Cantwell’s amendment passed today requires the Air Force to submit a detailed report on the Air Force and non-Air Force search and rescue capabilities in the northwestern United States by April 1, 2008. It also requires the Secretary of Defense to consider this report in making a certification mandated by the 2005 Defense Authorization Act before reducing or eliminating search and rescue capabilities at any military installation in the United States including Fairchild.

 

Currently, the only organization operating any search and rescue capabilities in the region is the 36th Rescue Flight helicopters at Fairchild Air Force Base.

 

The 36th RQF search and rescue helicopters serve Fairchild’s Air Force Survival School and the Combat Survival Training course, and provide emergency evacuation in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho.  Cantwell’s amendment was cosponsored by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Larry Craig (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

 

In July, Cantwell offered an amendment to force the Secretary of Defense to take no actions that would reassign or reorganize any of the search and rescue capabilities of the unit. When that amendment was blocked by Republicans on the committee, Cantwell offered the current text – which passed the Senate by unanimous consent and was adopted into the final conference report for the bill.

 

When the president released his 2008 budget containing no funding for the 36th RQF unit, Cantwell immediately dug in to protect and preserve the unit at Fairchild. In February, Cantwell visited Fairchild to talk with the commanders about the importance of saving the program because the primary mission is to assist the Survival School in providing specific, hands-on helicopter training to aircrews. In March, she led the entire Washington delegation to send a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees asking them to restore funding for the helicopters in the 2008 budget. In April, she wrote to the Secretary of the United States Air Force Michael W. Wynne asking the Air Force to continue operation and maintenance of the 36th Rescue Flight unit. Throughout the year Cantwell has continued to work with Wynne to protect this unit.

 

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 authorizes funding for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy. The conference report provides a 3.5 percent military pay raise, prevents fee increases for health care, and includes the Wounded Warrior Act to ensure that America’s injured forces receive the best care we can provide.  It also authorizes critical funds to restore readiness and protect our forces in the field, making sure that our service members have the equipment and training they need to meet current and future threats.  It also includes reforms to the contracting process to increase oversight of our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conference report passed the House on December 12, 2007 by a vote of 370 to 49, and it passed the Senate on December 14, 2007.

 

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