Could Blue Angels fall to federal budget ax?
Seattle Times Washington bureau
For Seafair, the Navy has a crew of 72 in town. Most were ferried by the Marines aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft from Pensacola, Fla., said Lt. Katie Kelly, a Blue Angels spokeswoman. …Navy pilots flew the seven Boeing F/A-18 Hornets — older models whose tailhooks have endured plenty of arrested landings on aircraft carriers — from their base in Florida to Seattle.The Navy charged Seafair organizers its customary fee of $6,000 per day of performance, or $12,000 total (no charge for buzzing Seattle and Bellevue during practice Thursday and Friday).Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, inserted an amendment in the defense authorization bill to reduce Pentagon spending at NASCAR events. McCollum said the Army alone spent $12 million on NASCAR and drag races in 2011. The year before that, the National Guard shelled out $20 million to sponsor NASCAR stars Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.
McCollum also proposed to take away $125 million from military bands, leaving the musicians with an annual budget of $200 million.
Rep. Norm Dicks of Bremerton, the top Democrat in the House Appropriations Committee and an ardent advocate for the Defense Department, voted for cuts in the defense authorization bill to reduce Pentagon spending at NASCAR events. House Republicans helped kill the NASCAR measure; the military-band amendment awaits an uncertain fate in the Senate.
George Behan, Dicks’ chief of staff, said the Blue Angels are popular and serve an important purpose, but “Can we afford it? That is going to be the question,” Behan said.
Kyung Song: 202-662-7455 or [email protected]. Seattle Times news researcher David Turim contributed to this story.