Drafter
Clerk 05/01/2008
Title
A MOTION supporting withdrawal of federal appropriation for the Airbus tanker and supporting a new competitive contract for the building of certain military hardware.
Body
WHEREAS, the United States Air Force recently awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. and European partner Airbus a $35 billion contract to build airborne refueling planes, rather than the Everett, Washington-based Boeing facility, and
WHEREAS, at a time of looming national recession, the $35-billion contract, which could ultimately be worth $100 billion over thirty years, for aerial refueling tankers has already led to a sharp decline in share price for the American company and an increase in stock price for the foreign competitor, and
WHEREAS, the loss of the tanker contract to Airbus affects the future of the American aerospace industry and America's competitive advantage, through a loss of aerospace manufacturing capacity and intellectual resources, and
WHEREAS, the Boeing company has a long and storied history of building the world's greatest commercial and military aircraft, including nearly two thousand tankers, in stark contrast to Airbus, which has no experience building tankers, and
WHEREAS, the awarding of this multibillion dollar contract, to be paid by American taxpayers to Airbus's parent company, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space company, could ultimately mean the loss of thousands of local jobs and thousands more statewide and nationwide at a time when such highly skilled and well-paying jobs are greatly needed to spur economic growth and thwart any recessionary trends, and
WHEREAS Airbus has never built a tanker in cooperation with Northrop/Grumman, has no factory to build a tanker and has not hired or trained the skilled workers necessary to do this work, and
WHEREAS, much of the infrastructure and many of the skilled laborers and engineers that would be needed to build parts for the new tanker in Mobile, Alabama, do not ye...
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