WASHINGTON – In its first interim report to the President and Congress, The
Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry has
recommended that a comprehensive analysis of the federal aerospace budget be
conducted.
In letters to the President and to the Congress, Commission Chairman Robert
S. Walker wrote that after the Commission’s first public meeting on November
27,Ê “(A)n initial determination from our deliberations was that federal
government aerospace sector spending is currently spread across multiple
government agency budgets, with oversight by numerous and different
Congressional committees.Ê As a result, none of these government groups has
an integrated view of our national aerospace efforts.Ê We further determined
that the current process and structure lack the necessary overall insight
and accountability for development and implementation of a coherent national
strategy and program – making it difficult to provide overall national
aerospace leadership and oversight.”
From these findings, the Commission unanimously voted to issue this interim
report recommending that the following sectoral budget analyses be conducted
of federal government and industry aerospace spending and submitted to the
Commission on or before March 15, 2002:
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ (1) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prepare a
spending breakout, by category, as an addendum to the FY03 President’s
Budget Request;
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ (2) The Department of Commerce compile and present baseline
statistics on the economic performance and investment expenditures of each
aerospace industry sector for the purposes of comparison to the federal
outlays; and
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ (3) The Congressional Budget Office provide an FY02 sectoral
budget breakdown that parallels the OMB FY03 submission.
Copies of the interim report are attached and can be found at
http://www.aerospacecommission.gov.
The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry is a
congressionally mandated commission, as established in Section 1092 of the
Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001,
Public Law 106-398.Ê The Commission was formed to study the future of the
United States aerospace industry in the global economy, particularly in
relationship to United States national security; and to assess the future
importance of the domestic aerospace industry for the economic and national
security of the United States.Ê The next public meeting of the Commission is
scheduled for February 12, 2002.ÊÊ
CONTACT: Melissa Sabatine, (703)
602-1515, ext 110
sabatinem@osd.pentagon.mil
