Sen. Ernst Stresses Importance of A-10

“The A-10 right now is the only air platform that can get up close, get very personal with ISIS, as Senator Isakson said, with those others that are intent on harming our men and women.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) joined Senate colleagues and close air support experts at a press conference to support the effort to prevent the premature divestment of the A-10. The Iowa Senator stressed the importance of the A-10 as a resource for American men and women serving in harm’s way, and noted that the A-10 lacks a comparable replacement.

This press conference was held in anticipation of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week, and the likely consideration of the NDAA later this month by the full House of Representatives.

Click here or on the image below to watch.

TRANSCRIPT

SENATOR ERNST:  Thank you Senator Ayotte, and thanks to my colleagues here today for standing up and supporting the A-10 and the efforts to keep that in place. It is an extremely powerful platform. And bottom line, upfront, folks is that my colleagues and I are not here today to fight for a piece of equipment, what we are doing today is fighting for the very lives of our men and women that are serving on the ground in these dangerous areas. I have heard over and over and over again from many colleagues that they would not be here today, with us, if it weren’t for the A-10.  We do not have a comparable platform at this time. And bottom line again, we’re not fighting for a piece of equipment, we’re fighting for the lives of our American men and women; special operators, warriors, those that are danger close with the enemy. The A-10 right now is the only air platform that can get up close, get very personal with ISIS, as Senator Isakson said, with those others that are intent on harming our men and women. So again, we need to keep this platform in place, I feel very strongly about this, and I want to thank Senator Ayotte for raising these concerns and pushing this issue here on the Hill. Thank you very much, Senator Ayotte. 

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