Four House lawmakers, all former military pilots, have banded together to form the Mach 1 Caucus, a team that will advocate for fighter jets on Capitol Hill.
The quartet — comprised of Republican Reps. Mike Garcia of California, Scott Franklin of Florida, and Jake Ellzey and August Pfluger of Texas — is “dedicated to policy issues important to the fighter pilot community and educating other members on these issues,” according to a caucus press release on Wednesday.
Garcia, Ellzey and Franklin are former Navy aviators with time in the F/A-18, F-14s and more; Pfluger flew F-15s and F-22s in the Air Force. Together, they represent sites including the secretive Air Force Plant 42, a classified manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California; Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, which trains airmen in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and major defense contractors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; among others.
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“Air power has been integral to every conflict since WWI, and we must never take for granted the innovation and forward-thinking approaches to war that airmen are responsible for,” Pfluger said.
Caucuses are volunteer groups of members that represent industries, policy interests and constituencies in their states, from algae to candy to reality (the virtual and augmented kind). While some figure more prominently in legislative negotiations, like the Congressional Black Caucus, most are largely symbolic.
Garcia first teased an unofficial fighter pilot caucus over the summer, when Ellzey won a July 27 runoff election to replace the late Republican Rep. Ron Wright in Texas’ 6th congressional district.
“Jake & I were fighter pilots in the ‘Tophatters’ squadron & flew in combat ops together,” Garcia tweeted in July. “I look forward to once again fighting alongside my wingman Jake.”
The “Tophatters” of Navy Strike Fighter Squadron 14 operate F/A-18E Super Hornets out of Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.
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Multiple congressional caucuses already back military aviation, such as the Air Force Caucus, Airborne ISR Caucus, Joint Strike Fighter Caucus, Long-Range Strike Caucus, Navy and Marine Corps Caucus and Special Operations Forces Caucus.
Mach 1 members would push for policies that span fighters across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and more broadly than the F-35 Lightning II. They’d also endorse ideas that affect the military at large, like ensuring “proper” pay raises for troops, Garcia spokeswoman Molly Jenkins said.
Their organization comes as the Air Force plans to buy a new fleet of 76 F-15EX jets, rethinks its intent to purchase 1,763 F-35As and considers a future without the F-22.
“The work done within this caucus will not only benefit the fighter pilot community itself but will help advance our nation’s national security,” Garcia said in the release. “I look forward to working in Congress to improve policies impacting our supersonic community.”
Rachel Cohen is the editor of Air Force Times. She joined the publication as its senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), Air and Space Forces Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy and elsewhere.
