WASHINGTON (AP) - A contract for a presidential helicopter fleet prompted a heated turf fight on the Senate floor Wednesday, stalling a major spending bill in what one lawmaker called ``a sneak attack'' by a fellow Democrat.
The surprise move by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., sent New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer scrambling to defend a contract that will bring hundreds of defense jobs to upstate Owego, N.Y., to build the next Marine One helicopter.
Dodd objects to the Navy awarding the $6.1 billion, 23-helicopter contract to Maryland-based Lockheed Martin and its international partners instead of Connecticut-based Sikorsky Aircraft, which has manufactured the president's helicopter fleet since 1957........
Dodd's measure would prohibit any European companies producing components of the US101 helicopter from doing business with terrorist-sponsoring states. Lockheed's international partners include the British-Italian company, AgustaWestland. Dodd's amendment might have subjected AgustaWestland to a bureaucratic nightmare of export paperwork for producing some of the US101's components......
After Dodd's legislative maneuver succeeded, Clinton and Schumer used parliamentary rules to block the entire spending measure..... The bill's prospects were uncertain even before the fight between New York and Connecticut, and neither side was willing to budge Wednesday night......
Even after the bill was shelved, the dispute brought Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner to the floor to defend the helicopter contract and criticize Dodd.
``I can assure you we will employ every parliamentary device available to us to see that this matter is rectified because this was not done in a manner consistent with what we normally do around here,'' said Warner, R-Va.