H.I. president, workers react to cuts

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - The president of Huntington Ingalls Industries and shipbuilding workers reacted to Tuesday afternoon's visit by Pres. Barack Obama.

David March, an employee of Newport News Shipbuilding, said he was expecting to hear more from the president.

"I was hoping he'd possibly go into further detail but unfortunately not," March said.

Gary Preston, also an employee of the shipyard, said he was happy with what Obama said.

"I think it was a good thing," Preston said. "I think the president is doing an awesome job. I just hope that the Congress, Republicans and Democrats work with him and get rid of bureaucracy and I think we can come through this sequester."

Mike Petters, the president of Huntington Ingalls, who said he has big plans for the shipyard, pending the sequester.

"We plan to invest a billion dollars in this business in the next five years," Petters said. "We're going to invest half a billion dollars in training. We're going to hire as many as 10,000 people at all of our sites over the next five years. We need to know that there's some certainty in all those programs to be able to manage that investment effectively."