WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) released the following statement today after the White House Daily Press Briefing in which Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the middle class job losses resulting from the President’s rhetorical attacks against the general aviation industry. 

“Today, the White House made it clear it sees the Administration’s role in deficit reduction as picking winners and losers," Roberts said. "Unfortunately for Kansans and for the hardworking employees of the American general aviation industry, the Obama White House has determined they are the losers.” 

“President Obama’s top spokesperson was explicit - this White House sees the middle class aviation worker supporting her family with a job at a Wichita based general aviation manufacturer or supplier as a beneficiary of a ‘narrow special interest loophole,’ and as a result, seeing her laid off is a ‘better option’ than cutting spending.  The President’s policies will hurt the very hardworking middle class families he claims to represent. This is a sad day for American aviation, for Kansas, and for our struggling economy.”

Wichita, Kansas, has long been considered the “Air Capital of the World.”  Wichita is a world leader in general aviation manufacturing, an industry that contributes over $7 billion a year to the Kansas economy and employs thousands of Kansans both directly and indirectly. 

The video of the exchange can be found HERE.  The full transcript of the exchange can be found below.

February 20, 2013 White House Daily Press Briefing

...QUESTION:

There are tens of thousands of people who are middle-class workers, who work in corporate aviation. My question is -- including several tens of thousands in Kansas, Washington, Oklahoma. They are very worried about the president's comments about eliminating the tax exemption because in their world, every time it's been eliminated before, there's been layoffs, and there's been thousands of layoffs in Kansas since the president started mentioning this, in the corporate aviation area.

These are middle-class workers. What would you say to them?

CARNEY:

I would say that making budgets and choices about deficit reduction always involve difficult choices. And that when there's a choice between laying teachers off or affecting our national security, or in the broader scheme of reforming our tax code that -- in a way that eliminates these tax breaks, special interest tax breaks or subsidies, that is a better option than voucherizing Medicare or cutting education investment, or throwing people -- kids off of Head Start.

You know, I think that...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION:

(inaudible) last week or last June...

(CROSSTALK)

CARNEY:

No, I understand. I -- I -- look...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION:

"I lost my job because of this." I'm sure -- I  mean, he supports a family.

CARNEY:

Again, I think that the question here is what choices do we make, and do we choose to protect narrow special interest loopholes that, by the way, the speaker of the House said just late last year there were so many of them that he could come up with $800 billion in revenues that he would direct toward deficit reduction just by closing loopholes like that and capping discussions like the ones we've discussed.

I -- I don't doubt that there are benefits that are enjoyed by companies and others that -- that flow from these loopholes and special provisions in the tax code. But the broader interest here is in making choices that are fair for everyone in the way that we reduce our deficit.

And closing...

QUESTION:

(OFF-MIKE)

CARNEY:

I take your point. I think I've answered the question, which is that we have to make choices here. And I think that overwhelmingly a decision to close a special interest tax break as opposed to -- you know, throwing 70,000 kids off of Head Start is a pretty clear choice. None of these are cost free, but it's a pretty clear choice

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