[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 102 (Tuesday, July 10, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H4690-H4691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FORD'S LOUISVILLE SUCCESS STORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, every 44 seconds, a 2013 Ford Escape comes 
off the line at the Louisville assembly plant. The Escape's parts make 
their way along 20 miles of conveyers inside a 3 million-square-foot 
facility that

[[Page H4691]]

stretches a mile from corner to corner. Inside that facility are more 
than 4,200 Louisvillians--and a few Hoosiers--operating state-of-the 
art machinery capable of producing six different vehicles.
  Ford has a long and robust history in Louisville. The company has 
been manufacturing vehicles in Derby City since the Model T in 1913. 
The Louisville assembly plant opened in 1955 and since then has 
produced the Ford Ranger, the Bronco II, and the Explorer, to name just 
a few. Across town, the Kentucky truck plant has been operating since 
1969 and employs nearly 5,000 workers.
  For years, both plants thrived--and with them, families. Just 
recently, a woman who now works at Ford told me that her dad had worked 
there for 50 years. Stories of Ford careers that span lifetimes--and 
generations--aren't rare in Louisville. There are fathers and daughters 
who have built careers side-by-side on the line.
  But by 2008, the Louisville assembly plant was outmoded and the U.S. 
economy was in crisis. The plant's future was clouded with uncertainty. 
Workers came to work everyday not knowing whether their jobs would be 
there tomorrow. Ford needed to innovate. It needed to produce vehicles 
that the American people could afford, that were sleeker and more fuel 
efficient, and that met a changing desire among car buyers who wanted 
more dynamic, economical vehicles. But the company needed a financial 
bridge to do it.
  In Congress, I worked to include the Advanced Technology Vehicles 
Manufacturing Loan Program in the Energy Independence and Security Act 
of 2007. Ford received a $5.9 billion loan through the program, which 
allowed the company to invest $600 million in the Louisville assembly 
plant and to remap their future. In 3 years, the Louisville assembly 
plant has gone from uncertainty to a complete retooling. Last month, I 
was proud to join Ford officials and hundreds of workers to unveil what 
is now the biggest, most flexible high-volume Ford plant in North 
America. The plant has added more than 3,000 jobs, and the increases in 
production have led to thousands more suppliers, of which there are 500 
for the new Escape model alone.
  Ford also worked with the UAW to renegotiate its contract and add a 
third shift at the plant. By the end of this year, the company will 
employ more than 8,000 people in Louisville. The positive relationships 
forged between organized labor and Ford in Louisville should serve as a 
model of compromise and cooperation for the rest of the Nation.
  The Escape is a success story of American ingenuity and innovation 
for the private sector, for organized labor, and for the Federal 
Government. And it's a victory for Kentucky. Ford's new investments at 
the Louisville assembly plant and the Kentucky truck plant are expected 
to contribute more than $800 million to our Commonwealth's GDP. Let's 
be clear: this happened because of the leadership of Ford, UAW, and our 
unparalleled workforce. But none of it would have been possible without 
key government investments to advance large-scale innovation.
  There were some who said we should let the auto industry fail. In 
Louisville, that would have meant putting thousands of Ford workers out 
on the street. It would have meant that the thousands of workers at 
supply companies who provide parts for the new Escape would have been 
updating their resumes instead of assembling Ford's newest and most 
advanced models. And it would have been an admission that in America 
our best manufacturing days are behind us. We're proving that wrong 
every day in Louisville and across the country.
  Over the past 28 months, American manufacturers have created nearly 
500,000 jobs. That's the strongest period of growth in manufacturing 
employment since 1995. And it's because we are using strategic Federal 
investments to spur innovation and leverage private sector investment. 
Just this month, the AP reported that Ford Motor Company sales rose 7 
percent in June. The reason? Strong demand for the new Escape, which is 
selling at a higher rate than ever before.

                              {time}  1040

  There are still plenty who say government is part of the problem, not 
part of the solution. But since at least the 1940s, we have known and 
generally acknowledged that the market cannot do it all on its own and 
that there is a role for government in pursuing short and long-term 
economic growth and prosperity in this country.
  You can find it in Louisville. Our workers, Ford, and government 
partners--Federal, State, and local--have shown just how successful we 
can be working together to build the vehicles of the future and the 
innovations that keep our city, and our country, on the leading edge of 
manufacturing.

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