Clinton Backs U.S Workers in Tanker Debate

At a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing this week, Michael B. Donley, nominee for Secretary of the Air Force, tried to downplay the domestic impact issue by saying that the aerospace industry is international and that the major corporations all have foreign entities.
Clinton disagreed and asked him to respond in writing how the Air Force would honor established domestic sourcing requirements in U.S. law.

“When the Air Force announced its tanker refueling contract award to Airbus A330 last February, I was struck when the spokesperson indicated that the Air Force could not and did not take into consideration the impact of the award on the U.S. industrial base,” said Clinton.
“I'm very well aware that we live in an international economy, but I'm also extremely conscious of the impact of decisions made by our government with taxpayer dollars that undermine our competitiveness for the long run and eliminate jobs and thereby undermine technical skill acquisition in a way that I think will come back to haunt us.”

The Air Force procurement program has been under intense scrutiny since it awarded a $35 billion contract for 179 aerial refueling tankers to a consortium headed by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co (EADS).

The decision, which sparked nationwide outrage when the Air Force admitted it had not considered the impact on domestic employment, was also rebuked by the Government Accountability Office, which found “significant errors” in the bidding process, including favorable treatment for the EADS proposal.

source: IAM iMail Page