Scaling Back
Defense cuts and the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the new Joint Strike Fighter changed the company's plans, causing it to scale back the size of the plant and curtail hiring.
"We've probably got about 50 people" at the facility, which opened at the end of last year, Hickton said.
The fiscal cliff is a catch-all phrase for a confluence of budget measures coming to a head at the end of year. Chief among them is the expiration of tax cuts for income, dividends and capital gains championed by former President George W. Bush. A 2- percentage-point cut in payroll taxes is also set to end.
If Congress does nothing, 82.9 percent of U.S. households would face tax increases averaging $3,701, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. More than 98 percent of households earning more than $50,000 a year would pay higher taxes.
Defense Cuts
On the spending side, some $65 billion in automatic cuts are set to take effect in 2013 as part of last year's deal to raise the debt limit. Half of the reductions will come from defense spending.
Besides the tax cuts, expanded unemployment benefits and a provision that prevents steep cuts in Medicare reimbursement to doctors are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.
All told, the steps on their own would reduce the federal budget deficit by $607 billion, or 4 percent of the gross domestic product, in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the CBO said. The shortfall this fiscal year is projected to be $1.2 trillion.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned lawmakers on June 7 that such a "severe" tightening of fiscal policy would "pose a significant threat to the recovery" if it were allowed to proceed. He also has indicated that the Fed would be hard-pressed to offset the full effect of such moves on the economy.
Banking On Delay