{"id":8006,"date":"2026-07-22T19:05:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8006"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:05:57","slug":"republican-blocks-bill-to-halt-retrofit-of-qatari-gifted-air-force-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8006","title":{"rendered":"Republican blocks bill to halt retrofit of Qatari-gifted Air Force One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats have been trying to stop the Pentagon from spending more money on the luxury jet, which they call an \u201cillegal\u201d gift.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Trump administration weighing military options in Mali, officials say<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
President Donald Trump exits the new Air Force One, a plane gifted by Qatar, in Belle Fourche-Cheyenne Valleys, South Dakota, on July 3. (Kylie Cooper\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A Republican senator blocked a Democratic bill Wednesday that would bar the Defense Department from spending more money to retrofit a luxury jet given to the United States by the government of Qatar.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump ordered the plane \u2014 a Boeing 747-800 worth about $400 million \u2014 and had it modified to serve as the new Air Force One despite ethical and national security concerns. He started flying on it this month, using it to travel to the NATO summit in Turkey, but he left Ankara on an older jet.<\/p>\n

Trump has said that security concerns did not prompt the decision to switch planes, and the White House has said it is safe. Still, Trump said Sunday that it would undergo additional modifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they\u2019re going to send it to have it be maxed out,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Democrats strongly criticized the deal that the administration struck to accept the jet last year and unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to block the Pentagon from spending money to retrofit it.<\/p>

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) tried again Wednesday to bypass the usual legislative process and <\/b>pass the bill by unanimous consent, arguing that the jet lacks the security features that other presidential planes boast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you thought this illegal gift was bad before, it\u2019s even worse now,\u201d Schumer said on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) blocked Schumer\u2019s attempt to pass the bill, accusing Schumer of making \u201ca political point.\u201d<\/p>\n

She argued that the bill \u2014 which bars the Defense Department from procuring, modifying or maintaining aircraft previously owned by a foreign government \u2014 would also apply to planes purchased from Korean Air meant to transport the president in the event of a nuclear attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis legislation would hamper a crucial program that ensures presidential safety in the event of a nuclear war,\u201d Fischer said on the Senate floor. \u201cThus Senator Schumer\u2019s bill would significantly harm our United States nuclear deterrence.\u201d<\/p>

Read more As another LeBron decision looms, Heat say news conference video was mistake<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats have been trying to stop the Pentagon from spending more money on the luxury jet, which they call an \u00ab illegal \u00bb gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublican blocks bill to halt retrofit of Qatari-gifted Air Force One - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8006\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican blocks bill to halt retrofit of Qatari-gifted Air Force One - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democrats have been trying to stop the Pentagon from spending more money on the luxury jet, which they call an \u00ab illegal \u00bb gift.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8006\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-22T19:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0b7f9d9b98d9c1ce12f470cd0986eadd-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1671\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Republican blocks bill to halt retrofit of Qatari-gifted Air Force One\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T19:05:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006\"},\"wordCount\":432,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8843fdf2333ada46baa5188c858f4411-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006\",\"name\":\"Republican blocks bill to halt retrofit of Qatari-gifted Air Force One - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8843fdf2333ada46baa5188c858f4411-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T19:05:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8006#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8843fdf2333ada46baa5188c858f4411-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8843fdf2333ada46baa5188c858f4411-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1671,\"caption\":\"U.S. President Donald Trump deboards the new Air Force One, a plane gifted by Qatar, upon arrival at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Belle Fourche-Cheyenne Valleys, South Dakota, U.S., July 3, 2026. 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