H
ouse Minority Whip Eric Cantor is a curious blend of contradictions. Aiming at the anti-government populism stirring about, he wants to be seen as an anti-tax and anti-spending guy. He’s also a Main Street Republican who is very comfortable with the captains of Virginia business at country club luncheons. Plus, he is an excellent fund-raiser.
Once again, these contradictions have come sharply into focus.
Last summer, Cantor, who has complained mightily about President Barack Obama’s stimulus program, was leading the charge for a chunk of the $8 billion Obama had laid out for higher speed rail. Richmond’s captains of industry want to take the train rather than get stuck in hours of Interstate 95 traffic when they have meetings in Washington, you see. Virginia ended up getting a paltry $75 million.
The latest episode of Cantor’s anti-spending schizophrenia involves some $485 million addition that he has so far succeeded in keeping in a $567 billion defense appropriation bill. In a series of delicious ironies, Cantor, believe it or not, wants to use the money to build a military jet engine that even the Pentagon says it doesn’t want.
The engine would be used to power the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter which will be used by the Navy, Air Force and Marines to replace aging, 1970s-era F-15s. F-18s and F-16s. The F-35, worth hundreds of billions in spending over the next several decades, is a remarkably complex machine. Some version have a vertical takeoff capability and have moveable thrusters allowing it to handle spectacular maneuvers.
Lockheed-Martin has the contract to build the jet and has chosen Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies to handle the power plant. The Pentagon is fine with that.
Except for one thing. P&W doesn’t have big facilities in Virginia. Rolls Royce North America does. It has a new headquarters office in Reston and a big $500 million jet engine parts factory complex under construction near Petersburg.
Rolls Royce has teamed with General Electric, a major jet engine manufacturer, to come up with an “alternative” engine for the F-35. Rolls officials argue that having two competing engines will eventually contain costs and make for a better project. The Pentagon wants to save money.
This is where Cantor has become a Main Street Republican again. Although the Prince George County Rolls Royce plant is not in his district (he’s from nearby (Henrico County), Greater Richmond’s captains of industry see the Rolls Royce plant as highly important, if not a salvation for them.
The region has been decimated by the recession far worse than any metro area in the state. As they watch chip-maker Qimonda, retailer Circuit City and real estate financier LandAmerica go belly up and big time financial powerhouses like Wachovia Securities skeedaddle for St. Louis and then get gobbled up by San Fransisco’s Wells Fargo, Richmond’s business elite needs to find alternate jobs for many people.
The Rolls Royce plant will provide 500 high-paying jobs, but plans are bigger still. The idea is to make Richmond a hub of advanced manufacturing by adding aerospace to its mix of chemical and cigarette plants. Former Gov. Tim Kaine was so keen on the idea that Rolls got an incredible package of goodies totaling more than $50 million. The University of Virginia, Virgina Tech and community colleges would all work together through a new center attached to the Rolls Royce plant to train engineers, scientists and highly-skilled blue collar workers.
Sounds good? Sure. But the idea hit rough air. The original plans called for the Rolls plant to make, in part, engine parts for corporate jets, notably a mid-range version made by Dassault.
But, as you recall, during the 2008 financial panic, several high-profile CEOs had the bad form to FLY to Washington in their corporate jets to beg billions in bailouts from Congress. The resulting outrage crashed the market for corporate jets.
So, Rolls Royce had to go back to the drawing board. A lot is in balance. Now they have started construction on one factory to make blades for engines for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner and a couple of late-model Airbuses. A second factory is due to go up next year to make bladed discs for the F-35 that General Electric and Rolls hope to make in Indiana and Ohio.
Cantor’s office says that the Rolls project is worthwhile, helps Virginia jobs and maybe he can cut other projects on the House floor (sort of like a carbon dioxide offset for global warming legislation, I guess). And, there is an argument for having several engine models for combat jets. The F-16 and F-15 both had P&W and GE engines. Even the famed P-51 Mustang of World War II started out with Allison engines but didn’t become legendary until it was outfitted with Merlin engines made by Rolls, no less.
In some ways, it is hard to criticize for Cantor to try to protect a key industry for Virginia. What is hard to take, however, is his posturing for the Tea Baggers and others. Another factoid is that you’ll never read about a story like this in the anti-spending, anti-government Richmond Times-Dispatch where Cantor’s wife serves on the board of the newspaper’s parent firm.
Let’s be honest about things.
Peter Galuszka
PS: Norm Leahy, former BR blogger, posted on this early and deserves recognition.