Blog: EC from DC - August 30th, 2013

Statement

This week I was honored to participate in an important milestone in the relocation of Honeywell, to the National Security Campus in south Kansas City. The massive transformation that is underway is having a huge economic impact on our region, keeping and creating jobs in Missouri's Fifth District, and it highlights the government's focus on modernization, innovation, cost savings, infrastructure investment, and environmental efficiency.

What kind of economic impact?

Honeywell employs approximately 2,500 people in Kansas City.

Keeping the campus in Kansas City means those high-skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs stay here.

The relocation has revitalized the local construction industry by generating more than 1,000 new construction jobs.

The local economy has gotten a huge boost, including $1 million in tax revenue to the Grandview School District.

Honeywell is a prime contractor for the United States Department of Energy. The company manages and operates the Kansas City plant. The relocation is one of the largest industrial moves in the United States, and last week they celebrated 3.6 million hours of working safely during this move.

How big is this move?

A wide range of equipment is being moved -- tools weighing as little as 6 ounces to a milling machine weighing 87,000 pounds.

By the completion of the move -- 3,000 truckloads will have transported thousands of pieces of equipment, including 30,000 crates.

Stacked on top of each other -- the crates would be 5 times the height of Mount Everest.

This new state-of-the-art facility means moving forward on the mission to keep our country safe and strong. Employees at the plant manufacture a wide array of mechanical, electrical, and engineered material components for our nation's defense program.

What are the details of the relocation?

Work has been completed on time.

The relocation process is on budget.

The move began in January of this year.

Completion is scheduled for August of next year.

A CALL TO ACTION

this country celebrates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, I think it is important to take a look at where we are going, the progress we've made, and where we have been.

The March for jobs and freedom took place 50 years ago on August 28th at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Of course, Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech captured the hearts and souls of America, and is one that I find inspiring still to this day. We have come so far as a nation -- yet there is still much work to do.

This year, as I marked the anniversary of the march, I also hoped it served as a reminder to all of us that the "Dream" has not been fulfilled yet, and the battle for justice goes on.

Unemployment continues to plague communities throughout Missouri's Fifth District, and our country.

The black community still sees double the unemployment rates of the rest of the country.

Youth unemployment is nearly six times higher.

Voting Rights suffered a crucial blow with the Supreme Court's recently ruling on the Voting Rights Act.

New laws are threatening voter protection.

For all of us, we must continue our battles in these areas and others. Workers' Rights, Women's Rights, Immigration Reform, Environmental Justice, and making sure our children, and their children, will be able to afford a college education.

The March on Washington is a call to action for all of us. It is a call to work together to move forward -- to ensure equality for all.

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