Less than 24 hours ahead of a funding deadline that would have shut the government down at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, lawmakers approved a bill giving themselves another week to figure out how to fund the government through September. According to Reuters, “the Senate passed the stopgap measure by voice vote without opposition after the House earlier approved it by a tally of 382-30.” President Donald Trump will now be handed the continuing resolution to sign into law, hours before his 100th day in office. “It’s unfortunate that we are now discussing the potential of yet another extended continuing resolution, which is the equivalent of a mini sequestration round, which we have already been through before,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein told the House Armed Services Committee in early April. “You see, in the Air Force we still haven’t recovered from round one. Failing to pass an appropriations bill will cost the Air Force $2.8 billion in the remaining five months of 2017.”
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.