Bomber Contract Price Tag Kept Secret in Senate Defense Measure
- Democrats joined seven Republicans in panel’s vote for secrecy
- McCain was backed by Cruz in bid to disclose contract value
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The U.S. Air Force won a victory in its efforts to keep its new B-21 bomber cloaked in secrecy, as the Senate passed a defense policy bill without a requirement to make public the price tag for the multibillion-dollar contract it gave Northrop Grumman Corp. to build the new aircraft.
The decision against disclosing the contract’s value wasn’t challenged on the Senate floor, where S. 2943, the measure to authorize $602 billion in defense-related programs, was approved Tuesday. Instead, the issue was settled last month, when seven Republicans and all Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee joined in a 19-7 vote behind closed doors against making the contract value public, including the fees Northrop could earn.