Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub gets new life after Washington’s senators add $70 million to government funding package

WASHINGTON – The Senate passed a sweeping government funding package on Friday that includes two provisions that could make up to $70 million available to the Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub, a consortium of nearly 50 companies, agencies and schools working to make the Inland Northwest a global leader in manufacturing advanced composite materials.

Senators passed the legislation, which includes five of the remaining six appropriations bills needed to fund the government through the end of September, in a bipartisan vote of 71-29 after Democrats successfully demanded that money for the Department of Homeland Security and its crackdown on immigrants be separated from the rest of the spending package following the fatal shooting of a second U.S. citizen by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.

The Spokane-area consortium was awarded $48 million by the U.S. Commerce Department in the final days of the Biden administration, then had that funding rescinded by the Trump administration last May. Just two weeks after its revised application was rejected again by the Commerce Department, the inclusion of so much money for the project in the appropriations package speaks to the quiet influence of Washington state’s Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, at a time when their party wields little power in the other Washington.

The funding isn’t explicitly earmarked for the Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub and could be split between multiple entities, but the bill text makes it the clear front-runner to access the money.

“After the Trump administration corruptly ripped away funding for Tech Hubs across the country, I was glad to help chart a new opportunity forward for the Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub, which is so important to building out our domestic aerospace supply chain and creating new job opportunities and economic growth in Eastern Washington,” Murray said in a statement. “This funding can open up an important new pathway for Spokane to compete for new resources to power the work that’s happening across our region.”

As the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Murray negotiates the details of the 12 annual funding bills with the panel’s Republican chair, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and their counterparts in the House. That gives Washington’s senior senator considerable power to direct federal dollars, since the Senate filibuster rule requires Democratic support to pass funding bills even when the party is in the minority.

Cantwell is the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and was a key architect of the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan 2022 bill that established the tech hubs program.

“This is great news for the Spokane tech hub,” Cantwell said in a statement. “It means that there will now be a serious investment in the composite advances we need for our defense, NASA, and aviation competitiveness. The creation of this consortium that is now eligible for these funds is a huge milestone for the Spokane region.”

Patrick McHail, executive director of the Tech Hub, said Spokane is ready with a favorable business environment.

“The aerospace market here is really ripe and growing,” McHail said. “This is a great way to step change into new materials, new manufacturing methods, and then really anchoring a lot of great jobs for decades to come.”

He also mentioned the region’s schools and programs with a focus on manufacturing and engineering bring “all the right ingredients” for success.

The funding that would be available to the Spokane-area hub, which must still pass the House, is divided between two provisions in the massive defense appropriations bill: $55 million for an “advanced aerospace composites tech hub” and $15 million for “thermoplastic composite parts.” The Spokane Tech Hub’s existing work, centered around the former Triumph Composite Systems Inc. factory at 1514 S. Flint Road in Airway Heights, puts it in pole position for the funding. But President Donald Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may seek to block or divert the money.

The appropriations package includes a two-week extension of current funding for the Department of Homeland Security, along with full-year funding for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and other agencies. After federal immigration agents killed a second U.S. citizen in Minneapolis during their aggressive campaign aimed at rounding up unauthorized immigrants, Murray and her fellow Senate Democrats vowed to oppose the DHS appropriations bill she had negotiated unless Republicans agree to additional guardrails for immigration enforcement.

Under the deal Democrats struck with the White House and congressional Republicans on Thursday, lawmakers will have two weeks to negotiate reforms to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents. Democratic senators’ demands include an end to roving patrols, barring agents from covering their faces, requiring them to wear body cameras and identification, and restricting raids without a warrant approved by a judge.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Thursday that the House won’t vote on the funding package until Monday at the earliest, guaranteeing at least a brief, partial government shutdown until both chambers approve the legislation and Trump signs it into law.

McHail added: “The timeline at this point is uncertain, but we’ll be learning more once the bills are passed, or assuming that the bills pass, then we’ll get into more of the details of the actual process.”

Reporter Mathew Callaghan contributed to this article.