I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Calkins, if there's any left.
So far, in our study on procurement, the testimony has indicated that there has been no political interference in the contracts for the planes we've been discussing.
I'd like to focus for a minute on an incident in which there were other allegations of political interference, which so far have cost the taxpayers half a billion dollars, and now may cost the taxpayers another billion dollars, and that was the cancellation of the EH-101 contract.
It's no secret that the opposition would prefer to rely on the benevolence of other countries for our strategic lift, and quite possibly pay exorbitant amounts to do so. What I'd like know is exactly what stage of the purchase of the C-17 we are at. If the opposition does trigger another election, is it possible that this contract would be cancelled and we would face hundreds of millions of dollars in fines once again?