A group of Senate Democrats are doing what most of this gridlocked Congress refuses to do – introduce bills that put Americans back to work.
The Manufacturing Jobs for America initiative, spearheaded by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), aims at boosting employment in U.S. manufacturing by increasing workforce training, expanding access to capital and fixing trade regulations that penalize American companies for keeping jobs in the U.S.
“We’re here frankly in part because we’re fed up with what Washington has become, and its inability to make progress on the number one issue facing our communities and our country: creating good jobs,” said Coons. “Congress has been distracted this year. There are still 11 million people who are unemployed, but we spent the last month just trying to get the government open and prevent an event bigger economic calamity. This cycle has to end.”
The effort, which 22 Democratic Senators have signed onto, has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO and the National Association of Manufacturers.
“A revival of the manufacturing sector is a crucial element for restoring balance to our economy by creating middle-class jobs,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
The bills, some of which have already been introduced, center on teaching the skills necessary to perform jobs in the manufacturing industry. A 2012 study cited by Coons showed that 600,000 manufacturing jobs went unfilled because there weren’t enough workers with suitable skills.
Click here to see the full slate of bills being put forth in the initiative.
