On the recordFebruary 15, 2012
On Monday of this week, 2 days ago, the President released his budget plan. It will take America's deficits, or total debt, to over $27 trillion. That's a big number. It's hard to get our heads around numbers like that. So I want to talk about how it impacts a particular industry and a particular group of people, how his budget and plan will put under attack 1.2 million Americans and an industry known as general aviation that generates over $150 billion for our U.S. economy. Now, the general aviation industry is an industry that this President has been assaulting ever since he took office. It is one of America's last great manufacturing sectors, indeed, a manufacturing jewel still here in America; and yet it has become a bit of a political punching bag for our President who constantly refers to the entire industry as made up of nothing but ``corporate fat-cat jet owners.'' But I want to talk about the job creation aspect. I want to talk about how the general aviation industry impacts real people. I want to tell some real stories about how lives are impacted when a President speaks about an industry this way and then presents a budget that has such an enormous impact. There are real consequences. I can tell you that each time the President attacks the general aviation industry, a machine shop in Wichita, Kansas, is impacted; a West Virginia company loses a sale; or a private company putting jet fuel on airplanes in California feels the squeeze.…
