Defense contractors rally against budget cuts

Defense contractors rally against budget cuts
By Kevin Wang
Medill News Service
Posted : Wednesday Aug 1, 2012

With automatic, across-the-board federal budget cuts slated to begin next January, defense industry leaders warned of deep wounds to America’s backbone if Congress fails to act to avoid the roughly $1 trillion in reductions.

At a rally Monday in Crystal City, Va., some Northern Virginia-based defense contractors said the mandatory cuts, which will take effect if Congress doesn’t craft an alternative budget-cutting package, would cost millions of American jobs and ripple across the entire economy.

More than 200 people, many employed by the contractors, attended the 1½-hour event.

Wes Bush, CEO of the leading unmanned aircraft manufacturer Northrop Grumman Corp., said sequestration could hurt both the nation’s defense and non-defense sectors by causing massive layoffs, including in such fields as air traffic controllers and government inspectors.

According to a recent study by the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents major U.S. aerospace and defense companies, sequestration could cost more than 2.1 million jobs nationwide and increase the unemployment rate by up to 1.5 percent.
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