Sat, Dec 19, 2009
Asks For $6.4 Billion From Stimulus Funds
The Aerospace Industry Association
(AIA) is calling on the Obama administration to release some of the
unspent TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Fund) money to create jobs in
the Aerospace industry. Association CEO Marion Blakey said if the
money originally set aside for bailing out financial institutions
was going to be used for infrastructure projects, then aerospace
should go to the front of the line.
Blakely's appeal came at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense
Summit held this week in Washington, DC. Reuters reports that
Blakey said tapping $6.4 billion in TARP funds for aerospace could
create as many as 150,000 jobs in the industry, but that it would
not be a "bailout." "This industry doesn't have its hand out and
we're not asking for a bailout," Blakey said, but "If they are
going to start tapping TARP funds for jobs, we believe very
strongly that aviation infrastructure should be right at the front
of the line."
Blakey also said spending TARP funds on aerospace projects could
help the overall economy by improving the aging air traffic control
system.
Marion Blakey
Gene Sperling, a senior U.S. Treasure councilor, said in
response to a question about Blakely's suggestion that the
distribution of TARP funds was ultimately up to the congress.
Blakey also cited a stimulus package pushed through the French
legislature by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as an example for
President Obama to follow.
AIA and other industry organization reported back in August that
in the current economic climate, the aerospace industry could shed
as much as 4.5 percent of its workforce. Blakey also told the
conference that U.S. Aerospace exports are off 17 percent over a
year ago. There could be a slight increase in 2010, she said, but
then expects another shallow dip could follow in 2011.
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