Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced that the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee voted to include funding for 10 new C-17 Globemaster III military transportation aircraft in the FY 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill.

“Keeping the C-17 program alive is vital to our national security and will keep thousands of workers on the job at the C-17 production facility in Long Beach and at hundreds of suppliers around the country,” Senator Feinstein said.

“If this funding is included in the final Defense Appropriations bill, it will mean that Boeing’s Long Beach assembly line will stay open at least through 2010. At this plant alone, that will mean that roughly 4,000 workers will continue to have work.

“It’s good news for our military service members. The C-17 has proven itself time and again to be a critical part of America’s military operations and national security – from supplying combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to providing relief to victims of disasters around the world.”

The C-17 is capable of carrying large loads to small airfields, on difficult terrain, anywhere in the world. America is short on strategic airlift capability, and the C-17 has been used in every major American military operation around the world since the 1990s with great success.

The Boeing Co. employs approximately 4,000 workers at the company’s C-17 assembly facility at Long Beach. In addition, 13,000 jobs at 400 companies in California depend on the program, which translates to $2 billion in annual economic impact. Nationwide, the C-17 program sustains more than 30,000 jobs at more than 650 suppliers in 44 states.

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