NAM Lays Out Economic Recommendations
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Get involvedTo support the work of Congress’ Jobs and Economy Task Force, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons laid out a series of recommendations designed to strengthen manufacturers’ competitiveness and the economy as a whole.
Supporting innovation: NAM opposes a new provision in the tax code that makes research and development expenses deductible over a period of years, rather than in the same year they are incurred. This change makes R&D more expensive in the US, threatening American innovation as well as manufacturing jobs that are directly or indirectly supported by R&D.
Financing growth: Timmons outlined NAM’s support for reversing the stricter interest deductibility limitation that went into effect this year. “The stricter limitation essentially acts as a tax on investment and makes the U.S. a global outlier,” said Timmons. “Permanently reversing this harmful change will help support future long-term job-creating investments.”
Protecting a level playing field: Timmons urged Congress to prevent several scheduled tax changes to the international tax regime from going into effect. He wrote, “Congress should ensure that manufacturers do not face a harsher tax regime than the rest of the world as it would disadvantage manufacturers and manufacturing workers in the US.”
Ensuring access to capital: Since manufacturing is a capital-intensive industry that requires significant investments in equipment, facilities and R&D, NAM encourages the federal government to help, rather than hinder, access to capital. Timmons urged the government to enable capital formation by publicly traded companies, avoids imposing undue restrictions on pro-competitive mergers and acquisitions, and provides support for small and medium sized manufacturers.
Other recommendations: Timmons further encouraged Congress to strengthen, streamline, and codify the regulatory system to improve regulatory outcomes and efficiency, improve workforce development by updating the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and bolster supply chain resiliency through the creation of a federal fund that provides grants, loans, and loan guarantees.
The last word: “At this time of high inflation, snarled supply chains, workforce shortages and global instability, manufacturers need every available tool to continue driving economic growth and job creation in the United States,” said Timmons. “As has been abundantly clear in recent years, manufacturing in America is critical not just to our economic health but to public health—to our very lives and livelihoods.”
- “The decisions policymakers make today will determine whether manufacturing in the United States—and therefore the entire American economy—will remain an engine of growth and opportunity. Manufacturers’ policy agenda provides a solid path forward.”
Read more: For more of the NAM’s policy agenda, check out Competing to Win.
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Manufacturers Unveil Competitiveness Agenda Ahead of Midterm Elections
“Competing to Win” offers a path for bringing the country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the midterm elections, the National Association of Manufacturers released its policy roadmap, “Competing to Win,” a comprehensive blueprint featuring immediate solutions for bolstering manufacturers’ competitiveness. It is also a roadmap for policymakers on the laws and regulations needed to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the months and years ahead.
With the country facing rising prices, snarled supply chains and geopolitical turmoil, manufacturers are outlining an actionable competitiveness agenda that Americans across the political spectrum can support. “Competing to Win” includes the policies manufacturers in America will need in place to continue driving the country forward.
“‘Competing to Win’ offers a path for bringing our country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “The NAM is putting forward a plan filled with ideas that policymakers could pursue immediately, including solutions to urgent problems, such as energy security, immigration reform, supply chain disruptions, the ongoing workforce shortage and more. Manufacturers have shown incredible resilience through difficult times, employing more workers now than before the pandemic, but continued resilience is not guaranteed without the policies that are critical to the state of manufacturing in America.”
The NAM and its members will leverage “Competing to Win” to shape policy debates ahead of the midterm elections, in the remainder of the 117th Congress and at the start of the 118th Congress—including in direct engagement with lawmakers, for grassroots activity, across traditional and digital media and through events in key states and districts as we did following the initial rollout of the roadmap in 2016.
The document focuses on 12 areas of action, and all policies are rooted in the values that have made America exceptional and keep manufacturing strong: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.
Learn more about how manufacturers are leading and about the industry’s competitiveness agenda at nam.org/competing-to-win.
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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12.8 million men and women, contributes $2.77 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 58% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org
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