BOUNTIFUL — President Obama’s decision to scrap the Ares rocket, the planned replacement for the space shuttle program, not only doesn’t save money but it costs thousands of jobs in Utah and the nation.

That was the contention of Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who met with the Clipper editorial board, Tuesday afternoon.

The cancellation of the NASA Constellation program, including the Ares rocket, “was originally misrepresented by the President as a cost-saving measure,” the representative said.

“The truth is that NASA will actually receive an overall budget increase, with funds for the Constellation program and Ares rocket merely shifted to other areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, “Time Magazine named the Ares rocket the best invention of last year,” Bishop continued.

“Left in the wreckage of this decision will be the destruction of at least 20,000 private sector jobs,” Bishop said. That includes 2,000 Utah jobs, among them some that would be lost by his Brigham City neighbors who work at ATK’s Promontory facility .

But it also includes many Davis County residents, who commute to ATK jobs there, as well as at the Freeport Center and in Salt Lake County, he said.

“It is more than just jobs though. It’s about the special kinds of jobs and their relationship to our national defense,” Bishop emphasized.

“The kinds of skills needed to build NASA rockets are the same skills needed to build missiles used in the defense of our nation, and they rely on the same rocket motor technology.”

Private sector jobs would be slashed and in some cases already have been, but government jobs are actually on the increase, Bishop said.

“As the Assistant Defense Secretary for Acquisition wrote last September, ‘The best defense industrial and technology base in the world is not a birthright...(those) skills are not easily replicated in the commercial world and, if allowed to erode, would be difficult to rebuild.’ An industrial base is not a spigot that can be turned on and off at will,” he said.

That flies in the face of Obama’s job creation rhetoric and the importance he places on science, engineering and math education for future jobs preparation, the Kaysville native said.

Many space/defense-related jobs were already lost in Northern Utah last year, Bishop said.

“They destroy the industrial base, which destroys capability. If they destroy jobs, they don’t come back,” he said.

If measures are taken to cut these programs, it only helps open the door wider for such rogue nations as North Korea and Iran to continue their missile development programs, Bishop said.

“The Chinese are moving fully forward to become a player, to have the capacity to supplant the Russians, That’s not a good position to find yourself,” he said of the U.S.

But the President’s plan “abdicates the U.S. position” on missile and space defense, Bishop said.

“Without Ares there will be no future American space vehicle,” he said. “Common sense tells us we should not turn the space above us over to the Russians and Chinese. American astronauts will be forced to stand on the edge of space trying to hail a Russian taxi to the space station or back.”

This is not only about saving jobs, protecting space exploration, Bishop emphasized. “Most importantly, it is absolutely about our Constitutional responsibility to provide for the common defense. In each area, the Obama plan fails America. This should not be America’s future,” he said. “Already a bi-partisan Congressional effort is challenging the Administration’s proposal that harms America’s role in space, hurts our economy, and damages our missile defense and national security. We must and can do better.”

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com