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"Yesterday, I spoke with Scott Carson, who informed me of Boeing’s decision to purchase the Vought facility in South Carolina. I recognize that this announcement underscores that Boeing wants to ensure that it manufactures the 787 Dreamliner as efficiently as possible, thus they have made the decision to buy Vought. In my conversation with Scott, he assured that no decision has been made on a potential second line for the 787, and that today’s announcement doesn’t have anything to do with that. Washington state is proud to be home of the world’s best airplane manufacturer and most skilled aerospace workforce."

"Today’s announcement is not good news for the people of Washington, and represents another in a long line of warning signals the Legislature should be heeding about our state’s dismal business climate. "A recent report on Washington's competitiveness showed that two issues were very important to the aerospace industry – labor-management relations, and cost-related measures such as unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, taxes and other business costs. "Four of the last seven labor negotiations at Boeing have resulted in a strike. Work stoppages over the past several years have cost Boeing nine billion dollars in revenue and two billion dollars in lost profits – and Washington had the most aerospace work stoppage days of any state in which the company does business. If labor-management relations is the industry’s number one concern, and the report says that it is, why wouldn’t Boeing look to expand elsewhere given this dismal record? "Amazingly, on the business cost front, the Legislature made little to no progress this session on making our state more competitive. …"