Source: Florida Today
President Barack Obama on Monday will appoint Cabinet secretaries and agency chiefs to lead a task force that will develop a $40 million job-creation plan for the Space Coast.
Obama will issue a memorandum naming Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden as co-chairs of the team, which also will include 11 other high-level officials from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to the National Intelligence Director and head of the Small Business Administration, according to two senior administration officials.
“It is a long list, but I think it really does represent the seriousness of this administration’s commitment to working through these issues and building a stronger Space Coast,” a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the president’s announcement.
The goal is to come up with a plan to help the region weather the loss of an estimated 8,000 space jobs after the shuttle fleet’s planned retirement later this year. The task force was ordered to report back to the president by Aug. 15.
The task force’s day-to-day operations will be managed by the co-chairman, Locke. He has already become familiar with the region through projects such as a $2 million grant announced Thursday for the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority. And he will be speaking Monday to a manufacturing conference in Orlando and meeting with local business officials and tourism officials.
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