Manufacturers: Super Committee Failure Means Missed Opportunity for Economic Recovery

11/21/11 -  National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons issued the following statement after the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction announced that it could not agree on a deficit reduction plan:

“The Committee’s failure to reach an agreement on deficit reduction is at best a missed opportunity to put our fiscal house in order and represents a serious step back from the goal of creating a pro-growth environment that fosters job creation and investment. Manufacturers continue to be negatively affected by the rising debt crisis and its accompanying uncertainty and shaken consumer confidence. We are extremely disappointed that the Committee did not take advantage of the opportunity to restore confidence and stability to our economy by reforming entitlement programs and creating a tax code that promotes investment, growth and jobs.

Moving forward, it is imperative that Congress act to stop the automatic, significant cuts to defense spending. Cuts in defense spending will have a massive ripple effect throughout the entire manufacturing economy, affecting large defense contractors, tens of thousands of small and medium-sized manufacturers in the defense supply chains and over 1 million workers -- a result we can ill-afford in a struggling economy and a period of such global unrest.” 

The NAM’s Defense Manufacturing Working Group issued a report on the true impact of defense cuts and job losses. Click here for details.