EADS lobbying for tanker deadline extension

EADS Tanker Rises Again?

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/03/12/eads-tanker-rises-again/

The latest twist is that EADS and some of Europe’s governments are reportedly lobbying for a deadline extension on when tanker bids can be submitted.

. . .

Boeing’s brethren on Capitol Hill, sensing a possible threat to $35 billion for the company that means so much to their states, swung into action with little delay.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas said any “Delay is unacceptable.” Why, aside from the fact it might imperil all that money and all those Boeing jobs? “Changing deadlines would undermine the Department of Defense’s effort to make this competition fair for all parties involved. We cannot have different sets of rules for foreign and domestic competitors. EADS can either choose to bid or not, but it should not expect the United States for help in entering the competition.”