Blumenthal, Durbin Statement After Touring Connecticut Aerospace Manufacturers

(Hartford, CT) – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Majority Whip and Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, toured Connecticut’s aerospace manufacturers. Blumenthal and Durbin met with officials and workers at United Technologies Corporation’s Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky divisions to discuss federal issues affecting the aerospace industry in Connecticut and across the country.

Blumenthal said, “I was pleased to welcome Senator Durbin to Connecticut today, where he saw firsthand at Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky the innovation and dedicated, skilled manufacturing that is ensuring our national security and fueling economic growth up and down the supply chain. As Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Durbin plays an integral role in our defense and aerospace industries, and I am pleased he had the opportunity today to see these systems and meet our workers in person. I’m proud of the stellar work at Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, and hundreds of other Connecticut companies, making the state a true arsenal of our democracy. As a result of Senator Durbin’s support, and the recent passage of the omnibus appropriations bill, which I fought for, these companies have renewed certainty and critically important funding.”

Durbin said, “I was pleased to tour Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky with Senator Blumenthal today and see first-hand the work thousands of skilled workers are doing manufacturing components key to our national defense. The innovation I saw at both companies today was impressive and I’ll keep the valuable workers and their important mission in mind as we begin work on next year’s Defense Appropriations bill. Senator Blumenthal is a real champion of the defense industry in Connecticut and he ought to be proud of the hard work his constituents are doing every day, across the state, to build and grow the economy.”