TANKER: Murray and Cantwell Call on President to Make Sure Pentagon Heeds His Call to Support American Workers and Businesses

(Washington, D.C.) – The
day after President Obama delivered a State of the Union address focused on
ensuring we put American businesses and workers in a position to compete and
win in the future, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) led a
bi-partisan letter to President Obama calling on him to ensure a fair playing
field for American workers in the competition to replace the Air Force’s
refueling tankers. Currently, American workers are competing against an
illegally subsidized foreign company.

“For
too long American aerospace workers and the critical economic sector they
represent have been disadvantaged by trade-distorting and illegal subsidies
provided to their foreign competitors,” the Senators’ wrote.  “We
believe that the U.S. government must act toughly and tirelessly to ensure that
jobs here at home are not lost because of an unfair competitive disadvantage in
the world economy.”

Joining
Senators Murray and Cantwell on the letter were Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS),
Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Roy Blunt (R-MO).

The
full text of the Senators’ letter follows:

January 26, 2011

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500 

Dear
Mr. President:

In
your State of the Union address you spoke of the importance of keeping America
competitive in an era of globalization.  We strongly agree. No one is more
productive than the American worker, and we have confidence that the American
worker will succeed in the global marketplace if the playing field is
level.  But for too long American aerospace workers and the critical
economic sector they represent have been disadvantaged by trade-distorting and
illegal subsidies provided to their foreign competitors. We believe that the
U.S. government must act toughly and tirelessly to ensure that jobs here at
home are not lost because of an unfair competitive disadvantage in the world
economy.

As
part of this strategy, it is critical that U.S government policy be consistent
across all federal agencies.  Foreign governments or companies should not
be rewarded for products that benefited through the use of illegal subsidies or
for disregarding international standards.  In the case of subsidies
provided to Airbus by European governments, however, there is a gap in
government policy that puts the American worker at a competitive disadvantage
and could cause further harm to the domestic aerospace industry.

The
World Trade Organization issued a final ruling on June 30, 2010, finding that
illegal subsidies have caused serious damage to America’s aerospace industry,
workers and economy.  The cumulative market value of these subsidies
approaches $200 billion in today’s dollars.  Your U.S. Trade
Representative – Ambassador Ron Kirk – has stated that these subsidies “caused
adverse effects to the interests of the United States.”  Yet the
Department of Defense has indicated that it will not take the illegal subsidies
into account in its KC-X source selection for the next generation of aerial
refueling tankers.

We
believe that the U.S. government must establish a consistent policy across all
government agencies that takes into account the effect of illegal subsidies on
bids for government contracts such as the KC-X award.  Such a policy would
fit naturally into the pro-competiveness agenda you outlined in your State of
the Union Address.  We look forward to working with you to grow the
American economy by allowing American workers to compete on an even playing
field.

Sincerely,

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)