DOVER, Del. – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, led by U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del), is asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to analyze federal manufacturing policies and provide recommendations for improvement. In a letter sent to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro on Tuesday, the senators requested answers to a range of questions about the scope, effectiveness, and potential for redundancy of federal manufacturing programs and tax incentives. The information will help to inform congressional and executive branch efforts to support the United States’ steadily recovering manufacturing sector.
“Manufacturing plays a critical role in our country’s economy,” the senators wrote. “Accounting for nearly $2 trillion of our nation’s output, more than 12 million Americans are directly employed in manufacturing.”
“Given the importance of manufacturing in the United States, it is critical that federal manufacturing policy be effective,” the senators continued. “However, because the sector is diverse, no one federal department or agency deals exclusively with manufacturing.”
The senators noted that according to analysts at the Congressional Research Service, no comprehensive list of agencies charged with executing manufacturing policies exists, nor is there an available catalog of programs designed to assist manufacturers or their workers. In their letter, the senators request a full listing of federal programs and incentives for manufacturers, along with answers to questions about the cost, impact, and effectiveness of these initiatives.
The letter was signed by Senator Coons, who leads the Manufacturing Jobs for America campaign in the Senate, as well as Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Mark Warner (R-Va.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
To help the government coordinate efforts to support American manufacturers, Senators Coons and Kirk introduced legislation last year to require the development of a national manufacturing strategy, similar to those employed by our competitors in Germany, China, India, South Africa, and Russia. The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee in April as an amendment to the Brown-Blunt Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013.
Read the full letter below or here: http://bit.ly/1kSk3hm