Debt Deal Super Committee Must Have National Security Expertise

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Aug 02, 2011, 06:40 ET

Statement by AIA President & CEO Marion C. Blakey

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 2, 2011/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Obama and Congress deserve praise for reaching a deal to avert disaster today. However, we are concerned by the requirement for additional defense cuts negotiated by a proposed bipartisan "super-committee" of 12 members of Congress.

Additional deep cuts to defense would leave the military unable to invest in the technology that has always provided U.S. troops a superior battlefield advantage. It would most likely preclude the modernization of equipment worn out by a decade of war. And it would weaken the defense industrial base that is responsible for thousands of high paying jobs and billions of dollars in exports.

It is essential that the super-committee includes bipartisan representation from the Senate and House Armed Services Committees as well as the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense. We will need thoughtful, knowledgeable members on the committee who understand the impact of defense reductions on the nation's future national security capabilities.

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, homeland and cybersecurity systems, materiel and related components, equipment services and information technology.

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SOURCE Aerospace Industries Association