Why?

This evening I received an email from my senator, Patty Murray. Below in bold is the message which was entailed. As of right now the only explanation I have to offer does not add up. Our government has been reckless with the military contracts it has awarded thus far. Why would they award a military related contract to Airbus in a cost saving effort? Until I can find a better explanation to offer, I will let you ponder along with me.

Last Friday (2/29), I stood with the men and women of Boeing in Everett as the Air Force announced that it would be outsourcing a $40 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers to the European company Airbus. Boeing workers were shocked, angry, and wanted answers – and so do I.

Awarding this critical military contract to Airbus, a company that is heavily subsidized by European governments, is a threat to our economic, military, and trade security. At a time when families are struggling and unemployment is rising at home, it is unacceptable that we are investing in European jobs instead of creating 44,000 new jobs here. At a time when we are engaged in two wars, we need to ask ourselves whether we should place war-fighting tools and technology in foreign hands. And as we continue to compete in a global market, we need to ask why we are giving $40 billion to a company that our government has brought a World Trade Organization (WTO) illegal subsidies case against.