Iowa's gift law would ground Trump’s donated jet with a thud

Government employees in Iowa cannot accept a free meal because of concerns of an appearance they might owe the donor a favor.

Air Force One flies over Mount Rushmore in this U.S. Air Force file photo.

LAST WEEK, THE PENTAGON ACCEPTED the emir of Qatar’s gift of a Boeing 747, a $400 million bauble donated for our president to enjoy by a monarch whose family has ruled the tiny Mideast nation for more than a century.

Our commander in chief said the United States would be stupid to reject the donation — a present he hopes to use as a temporary replacement for Air Force One. The key word there: a temporary replacement.

Controversy clouds this gift for a couple of reasons. And Iowa’s public gift law — which deals with freebies much less ostentatious than the Qatari jet — provides important context on the controversy.

First, the Boeing 747 is far from being free. The United States government will need to spend upwards of $1 billion, according to Business Insider magazine, before the president can climb aboard what has been described as a sky palace considering its opulent use of marble and polished wood.

U.S. experts first must inspect the jet to confirm Qatar did not hide any devices that might jeopardize the president’s safety or security. Then the Pentagon needs to retrofit the aircraft with advanced, military-grade communications, security and defensive gear so the new version of Air Force One can serve as an aerial command post during a time of war.

At the conclusion of Donald Trump’s presidency in January 2029, the White House and Pentagon leaders said ownership of the jet will pass to his presidential library foundation — where the plane could become a museum display or be used for Citizen Trump’s personal travel.


THAT ARRANGEMENT LEAVES some of my Iowa government friends incredulous. Even those who are retired can still quote chapter and verse from Iowa’s state government ethics laws that impose no-nonsense restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by public officials and employees.

For example, state government cannot accept a donated $75,000 Chevy Suburban for use by Gov. Kim Reynolds while she is in office and then hand her its keys when her term ends in January 2027.

The fact is, officials in Iowa can accept gifts worth only $3 or less. You read that correctly — $3, not $3 million, and certainly not $300 million.

When The Des Moines Register employed me, I would lunch periodically with state employees. They always paid their tab and I paid mine. They feared even an appearance that they might owe me or my employer a favor in the future if I bought their meal.

With state employees so concerned about such an appearance involving a ham on rye, it is logical to worry about a conflict of interests with Qatar for the rest of the Trump presidency and beyond.


THERE IS MORE TO THIS QATAR GIFT that should raise the eyebrows of Jane and Joe Taxpayer, good-government advocates and Iowans serving in Congress — especially when White House representatives are running chainsaws through the federal budget.

The cost to U.S. taxpayers to prepare the Qatar 747 for the president should cause political heartburn for Republicans in Congress. The optics are terrible. Two similar 747s — adorned with “United States of America” across their fuselages — are fueled and ready to fly the president anywhere, anytime.

The president and the Republican majorities in Congress talk about out-of-control federal spending. They want to pare government safety net programs for the poor, like SNAP and Medicaid. They want to reign in FEMA, the federal disaster recovery agency, and reduce the National Weather Service budget. They want to cut funding for national parks, medical research, food safety inspections and the arts.

But little comment has arisen about the eye-popping price of retrofitting the Qatar jet for the president’s use for the next 36 months and then to remove the secret weaponry and communications gear before the plane sets course for the departing president’s library or personal airstrip.


THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT already is spending $4 billion for two new Air Force One 747s that are now in production. The Qatar jet will not save a nickel on that contract.

The House last week approved a budget proposal from the White House and Republican leaders that the Congressional Budget Office says will add $2 trillion, with a “t,” to the $36 trillion national debt over the next 10 years. At the same time, the White House and Pentagon are getting ready for a huge military parade in Washington next month costing an estimated $45 million.

There is one more reason the optics of the Qatar gift are so embarrassing.

President Trump’s tariffs on imported products are expected to raise U.S. consumer prices. The president has lectured Americans on their need to make do with less in the near term for the good of the U.S. economy. You know, two dolls instead of 30, five pencils, not 250.

Members of Iowa’s delegation in Congress ought to use one of their pencils to scratch a note to the president and attach a copy of Iowa’s government gift law. The Iowa Code provisions limiting gifts to $3 or less could provide him good airplane reading the next time Air Force One flies over our state.

Plus, a little prairie common sense would teach him that for the good of the federal budget, even presidents can make do with less — specifically, a Qatar 747. Two, not three planes, will work just fine.

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