The governor made a trip to DC yesterday to speak with top officials at the Department of Defense, promoting Michigan businesses that work in the area of high-tech manufacturing and homeland security.

Granholm met with Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and General James E. Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Lott, who heads the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Defense Contract Coordination Center (DC3), the first center of its kind in the country designed to diversify Michigan’s economy through defense and homeland security contracting.

“Growing Michigan’s homeland security sector is a critical way to diversify our economy and grow new jobs in this state,” Granholm said. “Our state’s research capability, coupled with our manufacturing capacity, makes Michigan the perfect choice when the federal government is looking for innovative new technologies and the companies to manufacture those products.”

Through the 21st Century Jobs Fund, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation created the Defense Contract Coordination Center to help link federal contractors with Michigan businesses that can meet civilian and military needs, creating Michigan jobs and helping to diversify our economy. The efforts have already paid off for our state-

Michigan businesses currently generate more than $4 billion in defense and homeland security contracts each year. In recent months, General Dynamics Land Systems and BAE Systems, both in Sterling Heights, announced expansion plans that will create more than 1,600 and 1,000 new jobs, respectively. Other notable Michigan defense contractors include GE Aviation, formerly Smiths Aerospace, near Grand Rapids; Sensicore, Ann Arbor; American Systems Technology, Troy; Patriot Antenna, Albion; Veridian, Ypsilanti; Burtek, Chesterfield Twp.; Solidica and Evigia Systems, both of Ann Arbor.

Governor Granholm also spoke with top political leaders to advocate for issues and legislation important to Michigan citizens.

While in Washington, Granholm and Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington also met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) where they advocated on behalf of two critical economic issues for citizens. The governors support the extension of unemployment benefits for workers who have exhausted their current benefits and oppose seven Bush Administration Medicaid regulations. Granholm explained that those regulations will cost the state of Michigan $3.9 billion over five years and force massive cuts that will result in Michiganians losing their health care. The governors also promoted restoring law enforcement funding cuts to keep families safe.

Visit the Michigan Economic Development Corporation on the web to learn more about their efforts to transform and diversify the Michigan economy.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 1:04 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.