WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee got hopping mad Wednesday when he learned that a provision ending a ban on using Russian-made rocket engines was slipped into a massive spending bill behind his back.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been seeking to stop the use of Russian rocket engines in the wake of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, its activities in Ukraine and its violations of a U.S.-Russia arms treaty.
The national defense policy bill – backed by McCain’s committee, passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Barack Obama – restricted the Air Force from using Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines.
McCain accused congressional appropriators of overturning the “will of the Senate.” He said removing the ban will enrich friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin because they play a role in managing the Russian engine maker, Energomash.
“The result will enable a monopolistic corporation to send potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to Vladimir Putin and his corrupt cronies and deepen America’s reliance on these thugs for our military’s access to space,” McCain said.