House Passes Manufacturing and Innovation Legislation
(Washington, DC) – Today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2996, the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act (RAMI).
“In every corner of our country, the transformation of the manufacturing industry is creating jobs and expanding access to opportunity for millions of Americans,” said Congressman Kennedy (D-MA). “Today’s bipartisan passage of RAMI by the House of Representatives is another step towards the kind of domestic manufacturing policy our country needs to stay on the cutting edge of a global economy. I am grateful for Congressman Reed’s partnership on this bill and look forward to supporting Senators Brown and Blunt as it progresses through the Senate.”
H.R. 2996 directs the Secretary of Commerce to support the establishment of institutes across the country dedicated to improving U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing, increasing domestic production and accelerating the development of an advanced manufacturing workforce. Each institute will be a public-private partnership between industry, academia, and other relevant entities. They will be required to focus on a specific and unique manufacturing process, technology, or methodology. H.R. 2996 also includes a reauthorization of the Regional Innovation Program as well as the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing.
The Regional Innovation Program was originally established in the America Competes Act of 2010. This Congress, Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) introduced H.R. 3918, the Regional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Enhancement Act, a bill to reauthorize the Regional Innovation Program. The Regional Innovation program provides support to innovative initiatives that accelerate technology commercialization, job creation, and economic growth in the United States.
The National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing is an updated version of H.R. 2447, the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act, by Ranking Member of the Research & Technology Subcommittee, Dan Lipinski (D-IL). It directs the National Science and Technology Council, in consultation with business, labor and academia, to develop a national advanced manufacturing competitiveness strategy that will attract manufacturing businesses to our shores, help them compete overseas, enable innovation, and encourage them to expand and create well-paying jobs here in the U.S.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said in her statement, “When it comes to job-creating bills, many of our promises these days can seem empty. But the bill before us today, H.R. 2996, will deliver results, not just rhetoric. This bill, if enacted and funded, will do more than any other measure this Congress has recently debated to revitalize American manufacturing and create high-skills, high-paying jobs in communities all across the country. We must act now to ensure that American companies and factories maintain their capacity to be the most sophisticated in the world, and American colleges and universities graduate the workforce to fill advanced manufacturing jobs on our own shores.”
H.R. 2996, H.R. 3918, and H.R. 2447 are all part of the House Democrats’ “Make It In America” agenda, a plan to support job creation today and in the future by encouraging businesses to make products and innovate in the U.S. and sell to the rest of the world.
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