Bernie Sanders: Election must bring people together
A closer look, however, suggests that the senator has just been doing what he was elected to do: seeing to it that his state enjoys a steady flow of jobs and dollars. He"s also bolstering Vermont"s reputation as a good place for the aerospace sector to do business, even if that"s not the first thing that comes to mind.
"People don"t think of Vermont as an aerospace state; they think we"re all cheese, maple syrup and skiing," said Patricia Moulton, secretary of Vermont"s Agency of Commerce and Community Development. "We have a very robust aerospace sector, and we have a number of advanced tech firms that find Vermont a great place to do business."
She said that the two largest aerospace companies in Vermont are GE Aviation and UTC Aerospace Systems, and she also noted the presence of another 30 small to mid-sized companies. Altogether, she estimated that this accounts for more than 2,000 jobs, which the F-35 program is positioned to complement.
"The F-35 accounts for over 1,400 direct and indirect jobs, with an economic impact of over $124 million in Vermont," said Eric Schnaible, F-35 International Communications Manager for Lockheed Martin. This figure accounts not only for 1,100 jobs with the Vermont Air National Guard, but with jobs within the aerospace sector and other local businesses. While 45 states and Puerto Rico are involved in the production of the aircraft, Vermont specifically is home to three supplier locations, and according to Business Insider, the plane"s bay doors and GAU-22/A gun system are both produced there.
The 1,400 jobs may not sound like a lot, but Chittenden County, where Burlington is located, has a population of only 161,382 people. It would have an enormous negative impact on the local economy if 1,400 of those people all simultaneously become unemployed.
The jets will also play a role in the state"s economy in 2019, when 18 are scheduled to be stationed at Burlington International Airport as part of the Vermont National Guard program to grow its active-duty maintenance force. Gene Richards, the airport"s director of aviation, said that those F-35s represent the future of the Guard"s relationship with Vermont. The program extends the financial contribution of the Guard well into the future by picking up where the widely used and soon to be replaced F-16 will soon leave off.
Richards said that it"s not only Sanders who supports keeping the hardware in Burlington. He said that Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch have all done their part to keep the program where it is, and he characterized their attitudes as "very supportive." A look at the numbers makes it easy to see why.
"There"s at least 1,100 Air National Guard jobs involved with F-35," said Moulton of Vermont"s Agency of Commerce and Community Development. "We estimate there"s about $50 million in direct payroll, and the program will involve some pretty decent upgrades to the Vermont airport."
She added that her agency expects the program to stimulate growth in the aerospace sector by creating business for local suppliers. So what would happen if the program didn"t have a home in the state?
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/12/why-bernie-sanders-is-backing-a-15-trillion-military-boondoggle.html
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