November 2007 Newsletter

On November 13th President Bush signed the FY2008 Defense Appropriations bill into law. This was one of two appropriations bills presented to him by congress; the second, Bush explained, "is or the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. This bill is 44 days late and nearly $10 billion over budget, and filled with more than 2,000 earmarks... Congress owes the taxpayers much better than this effort. And so today in the Oval Office I vetoed this bill. Congress needs to cut out that pork, reduce the spending, and send me a responsible measure that I can sign into law." It remains unclear when appropriations bills for these agencies will be passed and signed into law. The President framed his resistance to this bill as part of a larger stance against congress's upshot in spending requests: "This year alone, the leadership in Congress has proposed to spend $22 billion more than my budget provides. Now, some of them claim that's not really much of a difference -- the scary part is they seem to mean it."

The Politico's Martin Kady predicted that Congress would use an omnibus spending bill to cover eleven agency spending bills before Christmas: "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Politico last week that he expects to sit down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and White House chief of staff Josh Bolton to negotiate over all spending figures sometime in mid-December." The president also chastised congress for failing to deal with the current surge in oil prices in their new energy bill: "Another priority that Congress has failed to meet is energy. Leaders of both parties understand that America's dependence on oil creates problems for our economy, and our environment, and our national security. When they were elected last November, majority leaders in Congress promised to pass an energy bill to reduce our dependence on oil." Less likely, however, is passage of either the Farm or Energy bills.

Jason Vance, of the Iowa paper Wallaces Farmer, expressed fears that key congressional players are giving up efforts to complete the energy bill this year: "Senator Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the ranking member on the Senate Energy Committee, has said the increased Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is the most important piece of the Energy Bill. Because of the gridlock on the Energy Bill he has decided to try to attach it to the Farm Bill, which currently is stalled over limiting amendments." Some in congress had been hoping to pass the energy bill before Christmas, but Domenici's decision to pull the RFS measure out of the energy bill indicates that some of the most informed insiders deem this unlikely. On the prospects of the energy bill, Kady predicts, "Democrats are also negotiating amongst themselves over an energy bill, and a breakthrough will come only if manufacturing-state Democrats like John Dingell (DMich.) find common ground with Democratic leaders on corporate average fuel economy standards."

Ceramics Manufacturing Funded in FY2008 Defense Appropriations Bill

The FY2008 Defense Appropriations bill, signed into law on November 13th included funding for several important manufacturing programs that can support the ceramics industry. The bill provided $45 million for the following initiatives:

-$5 million for the New OSD Manufacturing Technology program requested in the Pentagon's FY '08 budget ($10 million was requested so Congress cut the program by $5 million.

-$8 million for the new Disruptive Manufacturing Technology Research program

-$8 million for the High Performance Defense Manufacturing Technology Research and Development program

-$24 million for the Industrial Base Innovation fund

Per the discussion at the October 25 USACA Fall meeting, Department of Defense plans for the Industry Wide Propulsion Initiative fit under the descriptions of these new Manufacturing programs such that OSD has the option to proceed with $5 million planned for the Propulsion Initiative. Congressional clarification may be required and USACA will work to generate support for plans to move forward with the Industry Wide Propulsion Initiative.

New Member Profile: SAFRAN USA

USACA welcomes SAFAN USA as our newest member- The SAFRAN Group represents over 7,000 employees in the united states in its various member corporations. Ronald Colunga, Director of Business Development, Military Maintenance and Repair, explained that by joining USACA SAFRAN hopes to learn as much as possible about the expanding market of advanced ceramics.

Prominent among SAFRAN Group members in the US is Messier-Bugatti, which manufactures carbon brakes in Walton, Kentucky. These carbon brakes are used in the military's KC135 and C17 airplanes.

Another SAFRAN Group member of interest is Turbomeca USA. From their facility in Grand Prairie, Texas Turbomeca USA specializes in servicing the Arriel and Arrius families of helicopters and is a leading manufacturer of helicopter turbine engines.

Again we welcome SAFRAN to USACA and look forward to working with them.