Drafter
Clerk 03/11/2010
Title
A MOTION urging the United States Department of Defense to select the Boeing Company to build the next midair refueling tanker.
Body
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Defense has begun the process to procure the Air Force's next midair refueling tanker, and
WHEREAS, Boeing and Airbus are anticipated to be the competitors to build that tanker, and
WHEREAS, that contract could be worth $35 billion, and
WHEREAS, the United States economy is currently struggling through a recession of historic magnitude, and
WHEREAS, unemployment nationally and in Washington remains around ten percent, and
WHEREAS, United States taxpayers deserve the best tanker at the least cost, and
WHEREAS, the Boeing Company has a history of producing successful tankers for the United States Air Force and other countries' air forces, and
WHEREAS, Boeing can deliver a better aircraft more quickly to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen, and
WHEREAS, Boeing will build its tankers in Everett, Washington, at a proven plant, with a highly skilled and dedicated regional workforce that has a tradition of building the best airplanes in the world, and
WHEREAS, the Seattle metropolitan statistical area has the highest concentration of aerospace jobs in the world, and
WHEREAS, Seattle and the Puget Sound region is home to the vast majority of Boeing's more than 75,000 workers, and
WHEREAS, each job at Boeing supports nearly three additional jobs, and
WHEREAS, aerospace workers earn an average of more than $50,000 a year, which is sixty per cent higher than the average for all private sector industries, and
WHEREAS, most aerospace companies are relatively small businesses, many with five to fifty employees, and
WHEREAS, approximately $5.4 billion is paid in annual wages to aerospace workers, which is five percent of all wages paid in the state, and
WHEREAS, the metropolitan King County council values these jobs and the people who hold them, and w...

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