[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15499-15502]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1715
                       NATIONAL MANUFACTURING DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reed) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, before I begin this evening, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise 
and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic 
of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, joined this evening with 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to celebrate the upcoming 
October 2 National Manufacturing Day.
  Manufacturing in the U.S. is something that I support fully. U.S. 
manufacturing is something that, I think, shares bipartisan support 
across the country, coast to coast, north to south, east to west, 
because it is about real, family-sustaining jobs where we build things 
in America, where we can actually manufacture our products here to sell 
not only to the American economy, but to the world economy.
  Mr. Speaker, as I co-chair the U.S. Manufacturing Caucus here in 
Congress, I wanted to ask my colleague on the U.S. Manufacturing Caucus 
to rise and open us up on this Special Order this evening to celebrate 
U.S. manufacturing.
  I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), a good friend and my 
co-chair on the Manufacturing Caucus.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York. 
This is a great opportunity for us to share, I think, as Democrats and 
Republicans.
  My friend from New York represents upstate New York, and that area of 
our country and the State of New York have a long history of 
manufacturing. I represent northeast Ohio, which also has a long 
history of manufacturing.
  I think we recognize the importance of manufacturing jobs and how to 
create policies that will further allow for investment in manufacturing 
and for workforce development within the context of manufacturing.
  Also, I think we recognize, as we have seen the transition over the 
last 20 or 30 years in our country, how much we miss these 
manufacturing jobs. They pay a higher wage, more of a solid pension for 
most manufacturers, better benefits, and are where people can learn a 
craft, learn a skill, get into a good company, and make a good, honest 
living; and that is what we are celebrating here today.
  Through our Manufacturing Caucus, Congressman Reed and I try to 
stimulate some conversations and bring real people from our 
congressional districts to help educate us on what the best process, 
what the best issues, what the best approaches would be for the United 
States Congress to try to incentivize manufacturing here in the United 
States.
  I know I will be doing an event on Friday back in Youngstown, Ohio, 
and further celebrating in my community. I know you will, as well.
  So I just want to say thank you to my friend. I look forward to us 
continuing--not just the old-line manufacturing that we know a lot 
about and have lost of lot of those jobs, not just the advanced 
manufacturing either--to work on the issue of making sure that we 
create more of these institutes to try to nurture new ways of 
manufacturing, but also the additive manufacturing piece, which is 
happening in Youngstown, Ohio, at America Makes, where the 3-D printing 
movement, the Maker Movement is happening and burgeoning in an old 
warehouse in downtown Youngstown. I mean, it doesn't get better than 
that, to have millions of dollars of equipment in the downtown of an 
iconic city that is really leading our community forward in this new 
line of manufacturing.
  I want to thank you for your leadership. I appreciate your 
friendship, and I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words here 
tonight.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio. He truly is a 
friend, and he is just as committed to U.S. manufacturing as I am. I 
have seen it firsthand. I have seen him in his district in action 
supporting U.S. manufacturers.
  The 3-D printing hub, the advanced manufacturing center that you 
reference and that we are so supportive of--working with Joe Kennedy 
here in the House and Roy Blunt and Sherrod Brown on a bipartisan, 
bicameral basis, getting that legislation signed, which was a priority 
of the administration--and having that type of advanced manufacturing 
center in Ohio, in your home State, obviously has demonstrated his 
commitment and his belief in U.S. manufacturing.
  As the gentlemen indicated, it is not just advanced manufacturing. It 
is the traditional manufacturing. It is the manufacturing that we 
believe in where the American spirit is alive and well, where the 
American Dream can be reached and obtained.
  I mean, as my good friend from Ohio indicated, these are good, solid, 
family-sustaining, middle class jobs to a large extent that put food on 
the table for our fellow Americans and put roofs over their heads and 
allow families to maybe pass on to the next generation a little bit 
better lifestyle or a little bit better American Dream than they 
enjoyed by having a little bit of money to invest in a college 
education for their kids and to try to enjoy and live that American 
Dream that I know my friend from Ohio believes in.
  So I applaud my friend, and I appreciate my friend for all the work 
you do on U.S. manufacturing. This is what gives me continued optimism 
here in the United States Congress that we can get things done, because 
we have come across the aisle and we have joined together to promote 
U.S. manufacturing.
  I yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is hard not to get a little bit nostalgic. I 
think a lot of times those of us who advocate for manufacturing spend a 
little too much time in the nostalgia phase and not enough time, I 
think, working in the space where we are trying to enhance, grow, and 
create new opportunities in manufacturing.
  And I am not going to get political, but to go back to all of the 
elections, whether Republicans won or Democrats won, if you go back 
2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, I think the economic insecurity, in 
my analysis, was at the heart of each of those elections.
  As we have seen the decline in manufacturing, we have seen the 
increase in anxiety for families to be able to make ends meet. So I am 
thankful that we can try to promote this together and try to find an 
issue like manufacturing that garners 60 to 70 percent support from 
regions, demographics all over the United States.
  I think there is an inherent understanding of making something. I 
start it, and then I pass it to your company. You add value to it, and 
then you pass it to someone else. They add value to it, and it goes 
through that supply chain, tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3, and everybody 
benefits.
  Back in the day, you know, we had a manufacturing facility for 
General Motors that had 15,000 or 16,000 people that now has 3,000 or 
4,000. We had a supplier to General Motors, Packard Electric and then 
Delphi, that had 13,000 employees, and now it is down to 2,000 or 
3,000. Those were all solid, middle class jobs. I know you could 
probably give similar examples in Corning and other places.
  So I think, if we have an industrial policy, if we continue through 
the Tax Code and other ways to make sure that

[[Page 15500]]

we incentivize investment in these areas, that we can help regrow those 
new-age manufacturing jobs that everybody, I think, is looking for, as 
you said, to make a good living, have a solid retirement, have good 
benefits, and not have to work so hard that you miss the soccer match, 
you miss the baseball game, or you can't go on a vacation. We can help 
regrow those middle class jobs where you can still have time with your 
family, which ultimately is the most important thing anyway.
  So I appreciate the opportunity to be here and continue to work with 
you.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman points out, you know, what 
manufacturing represents is opportunity, an opportunity to so many 
Americans, so many people.
  Mr. Speaker, I know my colleague from Ohio will agree with me that 
U.S. manufacturing is positioned on a precipice of rebirth here in 
America.
  Now, my friend points out some areas that we need to continue to work 
on to make U.S. manufacturing even more competitive than what we are 
finding today.
  When we see the energy rebirth here in America with the shale 
revolution for oil and natural gas coming online and the feedstock and 
the utility costs going down and going lower and lower, it is 
positioning U.S. manufacturing to be in a competitive position on the 
world economic stage. To me, that is such a hopeful, optimistic 
position of time for the United States of America to be in.
  I can tell you story after story, Mr. Speaker. When I talk to U.S. 
manufacturers, they talk about the lessons that they have learned over 
the years of maybe chasing that cheap labor dollar, maybe chasing that 
overseas market, the whole issue of outsourcing.
  What I hear from U.S. manufacturers today is that they want to come 
back to America, because in America we have the best workforce and we 
have the best work ethic across the world.
  What we have in America, also, is the rule of law. So many of these 
manufacturers that have looked overseas and relocated overseas, they 
are finding that their intellectual property is disregarded. Those 
innovative ideas, those new ideas, those inventions that are going to 
spur that next product growth of tomorrow, they just get ripped off.
  They have no recourse to enforce what we in America, as the 
cornerstone of our philosophy, respect, and that is property rights and 
that is the rule of law and saying that, if you invent it, you own it. 
That is something that is critical for us as we go forward is to 
recognize the opportunity--and I know my good friend shares this--that 
U.S. manufacturing has right now with the competitive nature of the 
American marketplace.
  There are some things we can do. Serving on the Ways and Means 
Committee here in the House of Representatives, in charge of tax 
policy, trade policy, and health care, to a large degree, one of the 
things I think we have a shared commitment to is fixing our broken Tax 
Code. I don't know of anyone across America that will stand up and take 
that 70,000 pages of Tax Code and say this is working and this is 
putting our manufacturers in a competitive position on the world stage.
  I hear it time and time again that we need to fix that Tax Code. 
Because if we do that, that is another piece to advance U.S. 
manufacturing to that rebirth, that renaissance that I know--and I know 
my good friend from Ohio shares--can happen and will happen, because 
this is America where that opportunity can rise again.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, we all know that there are the larger 
manufacturers who can hire accountants and all the rest to figure it 
out, but it is the small- and medium-sized tier 3, tier 4 suppliers, 
you know, that maybe have 50 or 100 people and it is a family business 
and people aren't making a ton of dough, and to have to deal with the 
increased complexity of a Tax Code for the small business, I think it 
is appropriate for us to try to simplify that and make it a little bit 
easier for them.
  I am glad you mentioned natural gas. Especially in our region, in 
western New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, it is a huge 
opportunity for us. We should all be beating on the doors of the 
European companies to try to say, you know, move your manufacturing 
base into our region because of what the opportunities are going to be 
into the future.
  We have talked about this, and I think we have had a hearing about it 
through our caucus, is how do we get young people and their parents to 
recognize and see manufacturing as a real opportunity for them. A lot 
of people think, parents think: Well, I don't want my kids going into 
manufacturing. You know, they picture the steel mill in Youngstown 
where there were 20,000 people coming out dirty, in hard hats with a 
metal lunch bucket. Now, today, you walk into a manufacturing facility, 
it is about metrology and it is about precision manufacturing. You 
could eat off the floor because it is so clean. It is a whole different 
idea of what manufacturing is.
  We have got to figure out how to work with guidance counselors and 
teachers in the STEM areas about how to get kids engaged in this area 
earlier, because kids are naturally inclined--I think of my 12-year-old 
son, Mason. He is always building, creating, trying to use his hands 
the best he can, or even if he is on the computer, how he is 
organizing, you know, his troop alignments in some of the war games 
that he plays. But it is all about constructing something and putting 
something together, building things, and how do you create that.
  These young kids just naturally gravitate toward that. So the more we 
can get them engaged at a very, very young age about designing and 
building, the more we are going to unleash the creative potential of 
that generation to further build out the manufacturing base here in the 
United States.

                              {time}  1730

  Mr. REED. Reclaiming my time, I couldn't have said it better. I know 
the gentleman has shared stories that I have experienced myself.
  When we look at the present state of U.S. manufacturing, these are 
not the days of smoke-filled rooms where safety wasn't a concern and 
that it was a dirty, drudgery type of environment that they existed in. 
This is cutting-edge. This is a safe workplace. This is where safety is 
paramount and where skills are so necessary.
  One of the things that I still see today that we have to fight--and I 
think the gentleman will share this position with me--is I do a lot of 
work back in the district going to local high schools, standing in 
front of juniors and seniors and having conversations with those kids 
about what they want to be when they get older.
  I remember vividly one story. It was the first time when I asked the 
question, ``What do you want to be when you get older?'' The kids' 
hands went up. You have got the lawyers. You have got the doctors. You 
have got the people that want to be like the Al Rokers. They want to be 
the weatherman or on the broadcast TV, that type of thing.
  I said, ``That is all fine and good. That is great.'' Then one young 
man, who was a senior, said, ``Congressman, I am going to be a 
welder.'' I went over the Moon with that young man.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You are going to have a job.
  Mr. REED. I said, ``Do you understand''--to the rest of his class--
``I just left a steel facility in this district where they are going to 
start welders at $60,000 a year starting pay?''
  I said, ``This young man is going to be able to have a career. This 
is a career. He is going to be able to have a little extra money in his 
pocket. He is going to be able to maybe get married and raise a 
family.'' He got it, as a senior. I was so excited.
  As I walked out of that room and I was walking and exiting the 
building, I had one of the school officials, a guidance counselor, say, 
``Oh, Congressman, that was great. You made that young man's day. There 
is no doubt about it. He is going to remember that day for the rest of 
his life.'' ``But,'' she said, ``we really don't try to promote those 
types of careers, though.''
  I went almost through the roof, Mr. Speaker. I said, ``That is the 
problem. We have to change that concept, that stigma, that 
manufacturing historically carries with it.'' I know we are

[[Page 15501]]

doing it. I know the gentleman from Ohio is working with us, Mr. 
Speaker, to get that done.
  What I see is, when you explain the opportunities to that next 
generation, when you talk to mothers and fathers and say this is really 
what is out there, their eyes light up. The burden is lifted from their 
shoulders to see that their kids are choosing to go into a career that 
they want to and that they recognize is rewarding, safe, and 
productive.
  I will tell you I am going to continue the efforts to promote U.S. 
manufacturing because it is not just the manufacturers. As my good 
friend from Ohio indicated, it is all those supply chains, all those 
mom-and-pops, those small businesses, that are not only supplying the 
pieces or the raw material to the manufacturers, but you think about 
the restaurants, you think about the service folks that are cleaning 
the facilities, you think about all that it takes to put that together. 
That is a vibrant, growing economy, Mr. Speaker.
  That is what we are promoting here with U.S. manufacturing. That is 
why I am so glad that October 2 is National Manufacturing Day, so that 
we, as a nation, could maybe take a moment on Friday and say, ``You 
know what. We are going to believe in American manufacturing again. We 
are going to make it here to sell it around the world, make it with our 
hands, create wealth, create something.'' I know that my friend from 
Ohio shares that passion.
  One of the things that I am so committed to when we talk about this 
is the STEM, the science, technology, engineering, mathematics need of 
education policy going forward. That is what our advanced manufacturing 
bill with Joe Kennedy was all about.
  And working with the Senate in a bicameral and getting it signed into 
law was to take these public-private partnerships, to take our schools, 
our universities, our colleges, work with our manufacturers to develop 
those skills that are necessary to do this manufacturing.
  Because, as my good friend who has been in many of the manufacturing 
facilities, just as I have--when you go and you look at these machines, 
you look at how these operations and assembly lines occur, you need 
high education. This is highly skilled stuff. You can just see the 
pride in the workers when they explain to me how they learned that 
computer program or they learned how to do that assembly line work. I 
will tell you, it is inspiring.
  I yield to the gentleman if he has got any stories.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yes. It is not like it is a 4-year degree either. 
It is something that can be learned in a year or two because you are 
focused on exactly where you are going to be.
  And you talk about a welder maybe starting at $60,000-plus. You think 
about, if you could do that, start making $60,000 a year at 20--it 
takes a lot of people, schoolteachers, for example--how long does it 
take in Corning, New York, or Youngstown, Ohio, to get to $60,000? It 
is a little while.
  So that is money you can begin to save, invest, put in your 
retirement, whatever, your kids' college. I mean, you have that money 
not starting at $30,000, but starting at $60,000 or $70,000. And that 
can go vertical, too.
  The more skills you get and if you are in the right position in the 
right company, you can start making upwards of $100,000 as a welder. 
That is a lot of money that, if you plan your finances properly, you 
can have a lot of savings.
  To that point as well, I was at Stark State Community College, which 
is just outside of Canton, a few weeks ago, and there were kids there 
from Barberton High School and Norton High School, about 10 or 15 of 
them. They just started a program where these kids in high school were 
earning credits for the welding certificate.
  With this program, those kids can earn 13 credit hours for a 30-hour 
certificate. So by the time you graduate from high school, if you get 
in as a junior and you do it your junior and senior year, you will have 
13 of 30 credits. So you don't need much longer. You are over a third 
of the way to your certificate, and you just graduated from high 
school.
  Those are the kind of innovative things I think we need to continue 
to figure out how to incentivize and create. Part of it is the 
awareness that we were talking about, that it is okay for your kid to 
be a welder because of what we have already talked about.
  But how do we create incentives to streamline the education process, 
to get kids on a track so, when they are 18, 19, 20 years old, they 
have a job and they are not sleeping in our basements?
  Mr. REED. Reclaiming my time, yeah, think about this. As we see the 
cost of colleges and your college degree, kids coming out of school--I 
came out of law school at the end of the day owing over $110,000. I was 
raised by a single mother. I am the youngest of 12. I have 8 older 
sisters and 3 older brothers. To start life after school with a 
$110,000 mortgage on my head was a very difficult thing.
  You talk to these young men and women who are going into these 
programs--it is not just welding. It is manufacturing. It is HVAC. It 
is plumbing. It is all of the things that go into U.S. manufacturing--
and they are getting through school with these guaranteed programs or 
these community college programs.
  We have got a couple manufacturers in the district that have a 
certification process system that they put together where they 
guarantee 100 percent hiring at the end of the certificate program for 
these kids after--I think it is 24 weeks, if I remember correctly.
  They are getting into that job, making that type of salary, and have 
no debt to pay for that college degree. That is a win-win-win. And they 
enjoy it. And they enjoy it. I am sure the gentleman knows these 
stories and has seen those people firsthand.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This has been great. Let's keep it rolling and 
figure out what we can do moving forward in a bipartisan way like you 
and Congressman Kennedy did.
  I think that is essential with growing the ecosystem around different 
kinds of manufacturing in auto and additive and all the rest. We stand 
ready to work with you on the Democratic side to make that happen.
  Mr. REED. From this side of the aisle, on behalf of the people that 
we represent in western New York, you have that commitment, that I will 
continue to fight with you, stand with you to fight for U.S. 
manufacturing. I will not fight against you, but fight together so that 
we can advance U.S. manufacturing.
  It has been a pleasure to call you a friend. It has been a pleasure 
to be part of this caucus. Our caucus is strong, Mr. Speaker. We have 
bipartisan representation across the country.
  As we started this conversation tonight, in celebrating National 
Manufacturing Day this Friday, this is not a partisan issue. I go 
across the entire country, and people always tell me they appreciate 
the work we do in the caucus, in the Congress, when it comes to U.S. 
manufacturing.
  I again commit to you that we will continue to make this a priority 
so that we can make it here to sell it around the world again, bring 
those jobs back to American soil and create these middle class jobs to 
a large extent so that families, men and women, sons and daughters, can 
enjoy the American Dream. I appreciate the gentleman for joining us 
this evening.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Thank you, sir.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just want to summarize some of 
the numbers that are associated with U.S. manufacturing.
  Manufacturing supports an estimated 17.6 million jobs in the United 
States. That is about 1 in 6 private sector jobs. More than 12 million 
Americans are employed directly in manufacturing. They earn almost 
$15,000 more annually than the average worker.
  This is what U.S. manufacturing is all about. It is about creating 
wealth. It is about creating opportunity for generations to come.
  I will tell you, as we continue our career here in Washington, D.C., 
I will be a voice for U.S. manufacturing every day. We will break down 
barriers across the world so that we can have an even playing field, so 
that we can make

[[Page 15502]]

those products, build those products here, access those markets where 
95 percent of the world's consumers live outside of America's borders 
so that we have a vibrant economy not only servicing the American 
demand, but the world demand.
  I think, if we get our policies right here, if we get that trade 
policy done correctly, if we get that tax policy done where we have a 
Tax Code that is simple, fair, and is competitive for the 21st 
century--I am very confident, Mr. Speaker, that what we will create is 
an opportunity not just for U.S. manufacturing, but all American 
citizens, but, in particular, U.S. manufacturing to prosper and grow 
for generations to come.
  I am excited to be here this evening, Mr. Speaker. I am excited to 
share with such a good man from the State of Ohio a passion and 
commitment to a priority issue of U.S. manufacturing.
  Mr. Speaker, I just ask all of my fellow American citizens to take a 
moment this Friday, October 2, and celebrate National Manufacturing 
Day. Let's come together to have a great opportunity for the future 
generations of America to come.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________