AIA Urges Passage of Appropriations

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AIA agrees with comments by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warning that the department would suffer adverse consequences if Congress fails to pass a full defense appropriations bill as part of any funding package.

If DOD is required to operate under a year-long continuing resolution, instead of full appropriations, Gates said it would leave the department "without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements."

"Congress needs to take Secretary Gates' concerns into account," said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. "Asking DOD to manage its vast and complex operations under a year-long continuing resolution would hurt efforts to meet needs that are sometimes unanticipated in wartime. The disruption to critical programs could have adverse effects on the defense industrial base."

Gates noted that the proposed continuing resolution "would cut defense funding by about $19 billion, but would not reduce or eliminate any of the additional bills the department must pay in the coming year. We will need to cover the military pay raise, increases in military health care costs, higher fuel prices, and other 'fact of life' bills," the secretary continued. "None of these additional costs are covered by a continuing resolution."

"NASA and the FAA would face similar challenges under a continuing resolution," said Blakey. "Operations vital to our national security and economic prosperity could suffer without full appropriations for these agencies."

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Founded in 1919 shortly after the birth of flight, the Aerospace Industries Association is the most authoritative and influential trade association representing the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aircraft systems, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, homeland and cybersecurity systems, materiel and related components, equipment services and information technology.

SOURCE Aerospace Industries Association

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