During her short visit to Utah this week, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer at one point found herself clothed head to toe in personal protective equipment and surrounded by some of the strongest manufacturing materials in the world.
The carbon fiber spools were being produced by Hexcel, one of the leading manufacturers of the high-strength material that operates part of its production in a massive manufacturing plant located in West Valley City, Utah. As Chavez-DeRemer toured the facility on Friday, the Trump administration official pressed top-ranking leaders on how they develop the materials — and how the federal government can support those efforts.
Chavez-DeRemer was accompanied by Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee tasked with helping to provide federal funding to organizations like Hexcel to develop state-of-the-art manufacturing materials. Hexcel receives those funds through national defense appropriations approved by Congress every year, which the senior leadership team says is crucial to build stronger products.
“I get hit up by a lot of people who are asking for programmatic language or funding in the bills for something that they think would be amazing,” Maloy told the Deseret News after the tour. “When I can come see what they’re doing and hear firsthand and see firsthand how it impacts national security, then it’s easier for me to separate fact from fiction when people are coming in and asking for funding.”
What is carbon fiber — and how is it crucial to the national defense realm?
Carbon fiber is a high-strength chemical material that is created from thin strands of carbon atoms fused together in a crystalline structure.
The fiber is lightweight, which makes it a valuable tool for cars, airplanes, and military aircraft because it uses less energy and can be shaped into specific designs that traditional metals cannot easily do. Carbon fiber is considered a strategic material because high-quality production is possible in just a handful of countries, giving the United States an opportunity to be a global leader in the manufacturing space.
Hexcel is the only aerospace-grade carbon fiber manufacturing company that is headquartered in the United States, which organization leaders say is important to ensure the country is not reliant on foreign countries and can develop independently with intellectual property that is completely U.S.-owned.
The carbon fiber produced by Hexcel is designed to extend aircraft range and to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, according to the company.
The facility has put that production to use by helping innovate defense aircraft and key military programs such as the F-35 Lightning II, CH-53K King Stallion, UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache, and more. The manufacturing plant in Utah works closely with 47G, a prominent industry company in Utah that specializes in aerospace and defense.
Hexcel is even working to make itself valuable in the production of high-profile defense systems, including the Golden Dome introduced by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The Golden Dome is a proposed multilayered defense system aimed to protect the United States airspace from foreign missile attacks and other threats, akin to the Iron Dome in Israel. Trump announced his plans to develop the Golden Dome earlier this year, setting the stage for defense industries across the country to play a role.
Hexcel leaders mentioned Golden Dome on the tour with Chavez-DeRemer and Maloy on Friday as one of several opportunities for the company, although they did not speak directly with the Labor secretary about how they’d get involved.
Maloy looks to bolster national defense spending in upcoming appropriations bill
Maloy sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which spearheads the process of funding the federal government and providing funds to organizations and projects.
Hexcel could fall under the category of the Department of Defense appropriations, which, if passed, would greenlight federal funds to be used for missile defense, space programs and other aerial systems. That bill, one of 12 that make up the full appropriations process, passed the House in July but has yet to be considered by the Senate.
But Congress is facing a number of obstacles in passing its annual appropriations bills, which must be finalized and signed by Trump before Oct. 1 or else the government will enter a shutdown — effectively freezing funding for a slew of federal agencies until legislation is passed.
The process is historically bipartisan, but some Democrats are cautiously approaching the negotiating table with fears that Trump might upend any deals.
Senate Democrats have repeatedly warned they may not support legislation to avert a shutdown unless Republicans can guarantee they won’t later vote along party lines to strip the funding unilaterally. Republicans passed a rescissions package eliminating $9 billion in already-approved spending last month, and Trump already has plans for more spending cuts.
That could threaten increased federal funding for some groups — and it’s prompting whispers of potentially kicking the can further down the road with what’s known as a continuing resolution. Such a move would continue government funding at its current levels, which Maloy warns could harm defense innovation.
“Every time we’ve been in a situation where we’re talking about a (continuing resolution), it’s the national defense people that are the most concerned,” Maloy told the Deseret News. “Because when projects get frozen, when program funding gets locked in, they can’t innovate. We’ve got to be able to innovate in the national defense space to make sure that we are prepared for the conflicts of the future, not just what we’ve done in the past.”
Chavez-DeRemer visits Utah as part of nationwide tour
Chavez-DeRemer made her stop in Utah this week, marking the 24th state in the Labor secretary’s national “America at Work” tour.
As part of those efforts, Chavez-DeRemer has made plans to visit with local companies and organizations in all 50 states to inform her policy decisions and national regulations. Earlier in the day, Chavez-DeRemer met with nearly a dozen local leaders in Utah’s agriculture, tourism, and construction sectors to discuss nonimmigrant work visas and how to bolster Utah’s domestic labor supply.
“As former colleagues in Congress, I know Congresswoman Maloy shares my passion for addressing the labor issues facing our communities,” Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement, referring to her previous experience as a House lawmaker. “It was an honor to join her for a roundtable with local business leaders today, where I learned more about the various industries that power Utah’s diverse economy. Through President Trump’s proposal to Make America Skilled Again, the U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring states like Utah have the resources they need to meet their unique workforce demands.”
During the roundtable discussion, the pair discussed how the Trump administration can more efficiently address H-2A and H-2B visa processes, which allow nonimmigrants to come to the United States to work on a temporary basis in key industries that are experiencing labor shortages.
Chavez-DeRemer has previously announced plans to create a new federal office to speed up those migrant work visas in response, as was reported by the Deseret News in June.
At the Western Governors Association in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in June, Chavez-DeRemer outlined the creation of an “emergency agency” to handle visa application backlogs within her office that will serve as a “one-stop-shop” to approve visa applications “on the spot.”
The initiative will include the creation of upgraded IT systems that will allow employers to log on to an internet dashboard where they can track the progress of their visa permits.
“I want to thank Secretary Chavez-DeRemer for coming to Utah and taking the time to listen directly to the concerns raised by local business and industry leaders,” Maloy said in a statement after the roundtable. “Utah has a strong economy and a lot of our industries rely on visa workers. I’m grateful that the administration is listening and working with us to make sure Utah businesses have the support they need.”
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