In all, Dicks helped get the votes of 73 Democrats, according to Defense Daily. Among Republicans, one lawmaker who was sitting on the fence on B-2 told the trade paper that he changed his mind after hearing a luncheon briefing on the day of the vote by former Air Force Secretary Don Rice, who served under President George Bush. Rice is now CEO of Teledyne Inc., a B-2 subcontractor. The lobbying worked. They could only speak with grudging admiration for Northrop Grumman's lobbying efforts.
Campaign contributions help explain at least part of the reason for their success.
The strong vote against the B-2 came as a surprise to Northrop Grumman and some of the senators, too. The full Senate is expected to debate the defense authorization bill in July 1995. It is quite likely that a senator will offer an amendment to restore funding to the B-2 program. 3 Northrop Grumman owns 50 percent of Vought Aircraft.