U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Committee on Armed Services, opposed Sen. Richard Burr's amendment, which would prevent the Navy from building an outlying landing field on two sites in Camden and Gates counties.
"I rise in reluctant opposition to the amendment by my friend from North Carolina," said McCain, referring to Burr, who campaigned for McCain during the presidential campaign last year. "He and the other senator form North Carolina spoke passionately and to some degree persuasively in the markup of this legislation."
McCain said it was appropriate for Burr and Sen. Kay Hagan to react to local concerns. And, he added that "perhaps the Department of the Navy does not approach some of these communities in a way that would gain cooperation....But the facts are the facts, and that is the Navy needs a field to train carrier pilots within range of both air stations, Oceana in Virginia and Cherry Point in North Carolina."
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