Cantwell focuses on jobs and training in Chamber speech

Published 8:18 pm Friday, March 28, 2008

EVERETT — Sen. Maria Cantwell provided the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce with a congressional report Friday that focused mostly on efforts to provide more jobs.

Cantwell, D-Wash., said she will continue to work on efforts to train people in Snohomish County on how to handle sophisticated materials, such as the composites used to produce much of the Boeing Co.’s new 787 jet.

She also noted that there are significant opportunities in the construction trades and skills for “green technologies” that will help the United States reduce its use of foreign oil.

Responding to a question from the crowd, Cantwell said she believed Boeing had a 50-50 chance to succeed in its challenge of the Air Force’s decision to award the tanker contract to a team of Northrup Grumman-EADS.

She noted that it’s Boeing’s first time at such a challenge and said she was “very proud” of the company’s decision.

Cantwell said that the decision by the Air Force was flawed. “If it wanted a bigger plane, it should have drafted that into” its requirements, she said.

“The head of the Air Force had previously said, ‘I’m not looking for a passenger plane, I’m looking for a tanker’ ” Cantwell said.

She also noted that the EADS tanker may look as if it’s less expensive, but it’s not.

The larger plane offered by EADS “can’t land at hundreds of runways across the globe,” Cantwell said.

“They can’t even land there unless they expand,” she said. “These are the questions we want answered.”