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AIA URGES NEW ADMINISTRATION TO TAKE ACTION ON AEROSPACE ISSUES

January 3, 2001-WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Aerospace Industries Association has identified the industry's most pressing issues requiring immediate attention by the Bush administration in the coming months. AIA has prepared a set of 16 white papers on critical aerospace issues for the Bush transition team, recommending action that would maintain the health of the U.S. aerospace industry.

AIA has recommended that the new administration prepare a budget supplement request to the fiscal year 2001 budget that would increase the Defense Department’s aerospace procurement budget by $10 billion and DoD’s research and development budget by $4 billion. According to AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass, post Cold-War reductions in defense spending have resulted in aging weapons systems with high maintenance costs. "Today’s low production rates for major weapon systems are threatening the capability and capacity of the U.S. defense industrial base," he said. The U.S. must research and produce at a rate sufficient to maintain a healthy and responsive defense industrial base, he added.

AIA is also requesting that several critical appointments be made immediately after the inauguration for the Presidential Commission on the Future of U.S. Aerospace, a group established by Congress last year to study and make recommendations on potential problems that could weaken the industry if left unattended. The commission will study ways to ensure American leadership in space in the 21^st century, increase U.S. aerospace access to the global economy, remove barriers to public/private cooperation, and continue reform of government/industry business practices.

AIA will also press for other goals in the transition period, such as the need to:

• Increase NASA’s and FAA’s budgets for aerospace procurement and research and development.
• Support pending aerospace export sales.
• Diffuse U.S.-EU disputes over Foreign Sales Corporations.
• Update policy on defense industry mergers and acquisitions.
• Ensure adequate funding of aviation safety initiatives.
• Increase DoD progress payment rate.
• Establish a White House National Aerospace Council.

-AIA-

List of Transition Issues 2001.

Matt Grimison, AIA
703-358-1076
matt.grimison@aia-aerospace.org

P.A. Rel. 2001-02

01.03.01