Press Releases
Ranking Members Sam Graves & Garret Graves Statement on Activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to Assist in the Afghanistan Evacuation EffortCommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) and Subcommittee on Aviation Ranking Member Garret Graves (R-LA) issued the following joint statement regarding the activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) by the Department of Defense to support evacuation efforts in Afghanistan: “Maintaining a healthy and robust American aviation industry is not only important to our country’s everyday economy, it is also vital to our national security in times of crisis. Despite the chaos and confusion surrounding the President's poorly planned withdrawal from Afghanistan, we are nonetheless proud that our domestic air carriers in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Program are willing and able to answer the call to support the ongoing U.S. evacuation effort in Afghanistan.” This is the third CRAF activation in the history of the program. The first activation supported Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from 1990 to 1991, and the second activation supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002 to 2003. |