AIA Urges Passage of National Defense Authorization Act

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AIA congratulates conferees on the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (H. R. 4310) for completing their work and producing a final conference agreement that supports our warfighters and helps sustain our defense industrial base in a time of uncertainty.  We urge the House and Senate to pass the agreement and President Obama to sign it into law.  The bill resolves several issues in conference in ways that continue to uphold the capabilities of the U. S. aerospace and defense industry, including:

• Substantial changes to depot provisions enacted last year, which would have presented a number of challenges to the private sector and could have resulted in lost workload with American taxpayers paying billions of dollars in increased costs;
• An agreement related to the procurement of commercial items that ensures increased access to commercial products, which will drive down costs and increase competition;
• Flexibility for the Pentagon to continue its investment in the development of alternative fuels, a critical step towards reducing American dependence on foreign oil sources and producing commercially viable alternatives; and
• The return of authority to the President to determine appropriate export control requirements for commercial satellites and related technologies, after more than a decade of a law requiring inflexible, military-level controls which undermined U. S. global competitiveness in this critical field.  AIA has long advocated for this change.

While these are all positive developments for our economy and national security, it is critical that Congress and President Obama now come to a bipartisan compromise that removes the mindless threat of sequestration budget cuts, which would undermine implementation of our strategic initiatives, curtail investment and cost 2.14 million jobs across the whole economy in 2013.

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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