Clinton to Pay Visit to Rocketdyne Site : Aerospace: Valley appearance fuels speculation that firm may get grant to convert defense technology.
President Clinton will visit Rocketdyne’s headquarters here Saturday to discuss Southern California’s hard-hit economy, the White House announced Thursday, fueling speculation that the aerospace giant may have won a coveted federal grant to convert defense technology to peacetime uses.
Clinton’s appearance at Rockwell’s Rocketdyne Division, where he will address hundreds of employees and discuss the region’s economy with business, civic and political leaders, will be his second visit to the San Fernando Valley since he took office.
Although White House aides declined to discuss exactly why Rocketdyne had been chosen for Clinton’s appearance, they noted that Secretary of Defense Les Aspin will unveil another round of the coveted Technology Reinvestment Project awards today in Washington and said the President would elaborate on today’s announcements during his 24-hour swing through Los Angeles.
“You can put two and two together,” said one Administration source, who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, a congressional aide who specializes in defense conversion and a county economic development official both said they strongly believed that Rocketdyne would be among several Southern California applicants chosen to receive the federal grants, which must be matched dollar-for-dollar by recipients. The awards are a cornerstone of the Clinton Administration’s plan to wean the U.S. economy from defense-related contracts and re-employ workers who have lost their jobs in the post-Cold War era.
John Slifko, special assistant for technology policy to Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City), said he also believed that the Valencia-based HR Textron Inc., a unit of Textron of Providence, R.I., was a strong candidate for an award, based on its plan to apply aircraft hydraulics to car suspension systems and immediately re-employ workers at Textron and a number of subcontractors.
More California companies are overdue for selection in the third batch of grant recipients to be announced today, Slifko said.
But in announcing the President’s visit Thursday, White House aides refused to discuss specifics.
“It’s kind of an attempt to put everything in perspective--how California got to where it is, what the Administration is doing about it so far, what it will do in the future and to hear from people in California about what they recommend,” said Tom Epstein, special assistant to the President for political affairs.
Asked why Rocketdyne was chosen as the site, Epstein said only: “We thought it would be a relevant location.”
A unit of Rockwell International based in Seal Beach, Rocketdyne gets most of its $1-billion annual revenue from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for building space shuttle engines and developing electrical power for the space station. The balance of Rocketdyne’s revenue comes from making engines for the Atlas and Delta rockets, used for both commercial and military space launches.
Citing expected NASA funding cuts, Rocketdyne said last month it would eliminate as many as 990 jobs over the next year, or 15% of its total 6,600-employee work force. Previously, the company had said it anticipated paring only 200 jobs because of the reduced funding.
The Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP), funded by a $20-billion congressional appropriation, provides money for defense conversions to private firms, government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
“I know Rocketdyne’s TRP proposal well and wouldn’t be surprised if they got one of these grants,” said Rohit Shukla, director of aerospace and high technology business for Los Angeles County’s Economic Development Corp.
Shukla said Rocketdyne sought the TRP funds to adapt to commercial use more than a dozen different technologies the company developed for the space shuttle, including batteries that could power electric cars or trains.
The federal grants aren’t expected to create many new jobs, however--at least, not right away. The program has drawn criticism because much of the money is being used to fund research and new technologies, rather than immediately re-employ laid-off workers.
