[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 144 (Monday, September 14, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H5536-H5537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FUTURE OF QATARI AIR FORCE ONE PLANE

  (Mr. Courtney of Connecticut was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, on September 4, President Trump was asked 
about the future of the Qatari Air Force One plane, which, after a 
messy rollout in July, he flew on to Ireland this past weekend and 
said: ``I haven't made a decision, but it will probably go to the 
museum. It is scheduled to go to the museum.''
  Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection 
Forces Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Air Force 
executive airlift programs, I will remind the House that this aircraft 
is not the property of any one person, including the President of the 
United States. That plane is the property of the U.S. Government and 
U.S. taxpayers, and it is under the control of the U.S. Air Force.
  It is a plane the U.S. taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of 
dollars over the last years to retrofit prior to its maiden flight to 
Turkiye for the NATO Summit.
  After it was discovered by the Secret Service that the plane had 
serious vulnerabilities and the President flew home on one of the older 
Air Force Ones, the Qatari plane went into another overhaul and 
received maxed out upgrades, as the President said, which cost even 
more taxpayer funds. Just a few days ago, it was announced that the Air 
Force had contracted a new pilot simulator training program for the 
Qatari plane to the tune of $45.3 million.

  Clearly, Mr. Speaker, the U.S. taxpayer has huge skin in the game 
regarding the future of this plane. It is also clear that this plane 
has ample long-term service life left in it. At the time it was gifted 
to the Air Force, it had only 800 hours of flight time, which is a 
fraction of the normal full-service life of a comparable Boeing 747 
jet. Given its low mileage and all the expenditure of government money 
and training, the notion that this plane should be mothballed in a 
couple years and donated to a Trump museum is an insult to the 
intelligence of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, some may point to the example of the Air Force One plane 
at the Reagan Library as justification for President Trump's claim that 
he has the right to abscond with this plane after he leaves office.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Reagan Library plane was in Air Force 
service for 13 years after he left office in 1988 and served President 
George Herbert Walker Bush, President Clinton, and President George W. 
Bush until it was decommissioned in 2001.
  The plane then went through a well-established legal process for 
transfer of excess Federal property that President Reagan had no 
control over, which is designed to protect the interests of the 
taxpayer.
  Mr. Speaker, everything about this Qatari gifted plane has been 
problematic: the unanswered questions of a foreign emolument, the lack 
of transparency on the cost of the initial retrofit, the rocky maiden 
voyage to Turkiye, and the President's repeated claims of ownership and 
control of the plane, which by law he does not have. It is clear 
Congress needs to intervene to prohibit any unlawful attempt to send it 
``to the museum.''
  Today, Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith and I will 
be introducing the Safeguarding Taxpayer Investment for Executive 
Airlift Act, which will very simply prohibit the transfer of the Qatari 
Air

[[Page H5537]]

Force One, known as VC-25B bridge aircraft, from the possession of the 
U.S. Air Force.
  As I have made clear today, after all the money and work invested in 
the retrofit of this practically brand-new Boeing 747, as well as the 
new $45 million pilot training contract that the Air Force just 
announced, the country and the American taxpayer deserve to get its 
money's worth from this plane. At a time when so many Americans are 
struggling to make ends meet, that is not too much to ask.
  Its service life will last for years. Just as the Air Force One plane 
that flew for over a decade after Ronald Reagan left office, this Air 
Force One should be used to benefit the Nation and not be used as a 
vanity project.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is about exercising congressional stewardship 
of property that belongs to the U.S. taxpayer, and it should be easy 
for every Member of this Chamber to support. To paraphrase Abraham 
Lincoln, it asserts what is both legally the right thing to do, but 
also morally the right thing to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me and Ranking Member Smith 
to cosponsor this commonsense measure.

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