GE Spent $8.2 Million in Year to Lobby for Alternate JSF Engine
General Electric Co. spent about $8.2 million starting in mid-2009 urging Congress to fund an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an effort that included newspaper and radio ads and a Facebook page.
The spending was disclosed in amendments to filings to Congress today for five quarters, starting in the three months through June 2009. Most of the money was for a campaign that used third-party agencies to promote the engine in states including Michigan, Ohio and Massachusetts, said Peter O’Toole, a company spokesman.
The Pentagon has rebuffed the backup JSF engine made by a GE-Rolls Royce Group Plc venture, saying the Lockheed Martin Corp. jet doesn’t need it, and Congress has repeatedly overridden the defense budget to restore funding. The primary engine is made by United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit, which has supported the defense department’s position.
“This is a unique situation for us, with grass-roots advertising,” O’Toole said. GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, decided that the ads required disclosure after a regular review of how it reports efforts to lobby Congress. “Normally, we don’t do this kind of advertising,” he said.
At stake is an engine market that has been estimated at as much as $100 billion over the life of the F-35, including spare parts and service. The jet is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon program, with an estimated cost of about $328 billion.
United Technologies Lobbying
Before amending the filings, GE had said it spent $25.5 million on lobbying last year, and about $15 million through June of this year. United Technologies spent $8.1 million from April through December of 2009 and $9.3 million through October of this year, according to its filings. The company didn’t specify how much was spent in support of its engine.
The full House of Representatives included funding for the GE engine in the measure it passed earlier this year, while the Senate defense appropriations committee refused to do so when it approved in September a $671 billion defense budget for fiscal 2011. Congress is next in session next month, and the full defense budget may not be voted until early next year.
The biggest of the GE amendments filed today, for $7.16 million, was for this year’s second quarter. The company spent $9.28 million in the third quarter of this year, including for the JSF engine, according to the filing for that period.
GE is the world’s biggest provider of jet engines, power- plant turbines, medical imaging machines and locomotives. Its financial services include private-label credit cards, lending to mid-sized and small companies, real estate and aircraft leasing.
United Technologies, based in Hartford, Connecticut, also makes Otis elevators and Carrier air conditioners, along with Sikorsky helicopters, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace controls and UTC fire and security products.
To contact the reporters on this story: Rachel Layne in Boston at rlayne@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net.
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