Sen. Brown Joins Administration Official Ron Bloom to Call for Expansion of Manufacturing Tax Credit

Press Release

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) joined Ron Bloom, Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, to call for an expansion to the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) at Edison Welding Institute today. They toured the Columbus facility and convened a roundtable discussion with area manufacturers and clean energy entrepreneurs to discuss the need to expand the 48C program and to provide opportunities for Ohio industries to transition to the clean energy economy.

"Manufacturing is critical to the strength of our nation and the future of our middle class, and clean energy represents the future of American manufacturing," Brown said. "Ohio already has a skilled workforce and a rich manufacturing heritage. Expanding this tax credit would create new manufacturing jobs in a future clean energy economy and help make Ohio the Silicon Valley of Clean Energy Manufacturing."

The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) is a 30 percent credit for domestic companies building capacity to meet this new and growing source of demand. Through "48C" in the Recovery Act, $2.3 billion in federal funds leveraged more than $5.4 billion of private investment that supports the creation of manufacturing jobs. Sen. Brown has called on Congress to expand the 48C program by an additional $5 billion.

This is the second of two roundtables Sen. Brown has held in Ohio this week. On Tuesday, Sen. Brown convened a roundtable of manufacturers in southeast Ohio to discuss opportunities in the clean energy economy and specifically availability of credit and workforce training and development.

Brown is the author of the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act of 2009, legislation incorporated in the House-passed clean energy bill that would create a $30 billion revolving loan program to help auto suppliers and other small and mid-sized manufacturers retool for the clean energy industry. Brown's bill would also expand the focus of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to include support for manufacturers transitioning to the clean energy economy. A report released in February estimates that Brown's IMPACT Act could create more than 52,000 jobs in Ohio

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