WASHINGTON — A wide coalition of business and labor interests have expressed support for the "Manufacturing Jobs for America" initiative, a package of tax-related legislation designed to boost jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Twenty-two Democratic senators announced the campaign Oct. 29. The bills included in "Manufacturing Jobs for America," the senators said, would strengthen America's workforce, open markets abroad, create conditions necessary for growth and expand access to capital.
"When we make things here and grow things here, we create jobs here," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, a member of the Senate Finance Committee and chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, in introducing the legislative package. "Manufacturing is the backbone of the middle class and our economy."
Among the measures that have been or will be introduced in the "Manufacturing Jobs for America" package are:
• The Bring Home Jobs Act, to end the tax loophole for corporations that move jobs overseas and cut taxes for businesses that move jobs to the U.S. from other countries;
• The New Skills for New Jobs Act, to expand programs for community colleges to partner with local businesses in training workers for highly skilled jobs;
• The Make it in America tax credit, to give businesses a tax break of up to 30 percent for producing clean energy technologies in the U.S.;
• A bill to raise to $200,000 the limit on expensing depreciable business assets; and
• A bill allowing credits against income tax for investing in small businesses.
Among the companies and organizations endorsing the "Manufacturing Jobs for America" program are the United Steelworkers union, the United Auto Workers union, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, DuPont Co., Dow Chemical Co. and the National Association of Manufacturers.
"If enacted, these proposals will have an immediate and significant impact," said AAM President Scott Paul. "We are hopeful that these proposals will translate into meaningful, bipartisan action to revitalize American manufacturing, which, in turn, will strengthen the whole of our economy."