Plastics executives seek 'Trump bump' for their agenda

Washington — The first lobbying fly-in for the plastics industry in the Trump administration brought about 100 executives to Washington July 25-26, looking for a Trump bump for their agenda.

Companies from six industry trade associations fanned out across Congressional offices for about 100 meetings to talk about trade, tax reform, apprenticeships, infrastructure, the regulatory environment and health care.

In some cases, the group was playing offense, like pushing for "open competition" for plastic pipe in government purchasing, a potentially lucrative market if large government infrastructure rebuilding programs move ahead.

But on other topics, the posture was more defensive: arguing in favor of trade deals like NAFTA, which President Donald Trump sharply criticized on the campaign trail.

The group was briefed by Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and George Sifakis, the director of the White House's Office of Public Liaison. Leaders said they generally viewed Trump's election as a positive for their agenda.

"We have a president of the United States that knows business and is keenly interested in business, and knows what's important to businesses," said Benjamin Harp, president of the Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors, an Indianapolis-based group participating in the fly-in.

"I think we all look at it as a really good opportunity," said Harp, who is also chief operating officer of injection molder Polymer Conversions Inc.

Acosta told the plastics executives that the administration would support the plastics industry through skills-based training and investing in apprenticeships, according to a news release from the Plastics Industry Association, the lead organizer of the fly-in. Acosta's talk and other briefings were closed to media.

While they welcomed administration officials, several executives also said the Trump administration has struggled to find a focus. Plastics executives wondered how that lack of direction would play out for their policy concerns.

"Right now, it feels chaotic down here," said Tad McGwire, president of Industrial Heater Corp. in Cheshire, Conn. "I don't think the Trump administration has found its footing yet in any way, shape or form.

"With the Obama administration, while you may not have agreed with a lot of the policies — I certainly didn't agree with a lot of the policies — they had a direction," said McGwire, who is also active in industry associations. "You could debate that direction, but they were more organized. That's my sense of it."

Beyond raising specific concerns in short meetings with lawmakers and staff, the equally or perhaps more important goal is building long-term connections, said Scott DeFife, the vice president of government affairs for the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association.

Discussions at the fly-in can lead to plant tours and other opportunities to build awareness among lawmakers back home, he said.

"Work in advocacy, to be perfectly honest with you, is about developing long-term relationships," DeFife said. "It's to help make sure that we are properly conveying the story of the industry, so they understand how the industry works."

Greg Leighton, president of injection molder C&G Mercury Plastics in Sylmar, Calif., said he's been to several fly-ins and they've resulted in his local member of Congress, Rep. Tony Cardenas, visiting his plant.

"[Cardenas] understands businesses are a benefit to the society and he's looking to do no harm, is the impression I got," Leighton said. "He saw that I was a conscientious member of our city, with how clean the plant was. It gave him a better impression of the plastics industry."

McGwire, who said he's been coming to fly-ins for a decade, said they've raised industry visibility, even if it's sometimes hard to see a specific policy impact in Washington.

"My first year up here I was meeting with assistants to assistants in a closet, literally," he said. "I walked out of there livid that we as an industry didn't garner enough respect."

But he said that's changed, and he's met now directly with Connecticut's two senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy. His local member of Congress, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, has been out to his facility for a plant tour.

"I do think the efforts of the plastics association have been successful in raising our visibility within the people that are writing these laws, no question about that," he said.

In some ways, President Trump presents a new kind of Republican government for the industry — friendly to traditional goals of manufacturing lobbying groups in areas like regulations and taxes, but critical of trade deals the industry supports.

"You look for the opportunities you have," DeFife said. "The administration presents us with a very strong pro-manufacturing administration, so they are looking for the industry to help identify things that can and need to be done."

One of the top priorities for the industry in last year's fly-in, according to a June 2016 blog entry by DeFife's association, was supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. But Trump withdrew the United States from that his first week in office.

Plastics industry lobbyists said when Trump first took office they'd be fighting a "rear-guard" action to keep the Trump administration from "unwinding" NAFTA.

The Trump administration earlier in July released its plan for renegotiating the trade agreement, and it seemed to address concerns of the industry lobbying groups by backing off big changes like tariffs.

"There's certainly been a shift in the stance," said Perc Pineda, chief economist for the Plastics Industry Association, in a fly-in interview. "During the election campaign, there was a more anti-trade stance. But in recent months, we've seen more open mindedness when it comes to trade."

An executive at an Indiana injection molding company, Precision Plastics Inc., said he wanted to bring a message of no big changes to NAFTA, like import taxes, that would disrupt cross border trade.

At least 25 percent of Precision's business goes to Mexico, to automotive assembly plants, so taxes and major blocks to trade would risk Precision's customers shifting their molding work to Mexico, said Ryan Richey, executive vice president of the 200-employee company in Columbia City, Ind.

"There's a lot of intricate issues I don't think a lot of people really think about," Richey said

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Several companies said they raised concerns about health care or the Affordable Care Act in their meetings, although the topic was not on the official list of industry talking points.

"The biggest value I think I bring is to come in and say 'You guys passed ACA, which you know, you think is a great thing,'" said McGwire. "Let me tell you what it did to my rates and what I did in response to it and how it's truly impacting my day to day operation.

"I know the plastics association is not necessarily pushing discussions in ACA because it's not a policy they've taken a stake in. But I bring it up anyway because I think it's important and timely," he said.

As well, Harp, the president of MAPP, identified health care as a key issue — a "quagmire" for companies, he said — along with taxes, regulatory issues and putting "investment and a spotlight" on workforce training.

While it was not part of the fly-in agenda, business groups like the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation have criticized the Trump administration's first budget for cutting spending on a variety of programs that help manufacturing, including some federal worker training efforts, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the National Science Foundation and non-defense R&D.

"The administration's budget proposal would undermine America's long-term growth prospects by slashing investments that are critical to the country's innovative capacity," ITIF said.

In a fly-in interview, DeFife said the association shares concerns over big cuts in manufacturing support programs, and he added that the group has reservations about cuts in Environmental Protection Agency programs supporting plastics recycling.

"We're certainly concerned with anything that would zero out funding for promoting manufacturing here in the United States," DeFife said.

The day-long lobbying blitz included representatives from the American Mold Builders Association, the Plastics Pipe Institute, the American Chemistry Council, and the International Association of Plastics Distributors.