Bono Mack Subcommittee Passes Legislation to Create Comprehensive Manufacturing Blueprint

Press Release

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), today continued its efforts to create jobs by approving two bipartisan legislative proposals to help promote the growth and competitiveness of manufacturing in the United States. The subcommittee approved H.R. 5865, the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act and H.R. 5859, a bill to repeal an obsolete provision in title 49, United States Code, requiring motor vehicle insurance cost reporting. Both measures passed by voice vote and now move to the full committee for consideration.

The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act is a proposal to focus federal attention on improving manufacturing conditions in the United States. The Act will establish a public-private American Manufacturing Competitiveness Board to advise the president on manufacturing issues and conduct a rigorous analysis of the manufacturing sector. The Board will also develop and submit to the president and ultimately to Congress a national manufacturing competitiveness strategy, which will help eliminate red tape, encourage investment, and create more American manufacturing jobs.

"When I became Chairman of this Subcommittee last year, one of my goals was to create new job opportunities by making "Made in America' matter again," said Bono Mack. "Now, we have a chance for that to happen by developing a blueprint for manufacturing, which focuses on competitiveness, long-term sustainability and making certain the United States is a logical "first choice' when it comes to locating or expanding manufacturing."

"There is no sector of our economy that is providing more highly paid and economically advantageous jobs than manufacturing," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-11), one of the authors of the bipartisan bill. "Since coming to Congress, I've heard from manufacturers in my home state of Illinois about the importance of creating an environment that will allow American manufacturing to thrive in a global economy. We are on the brink of a new manufacturing renaissance in this country; the only barriers that pose a threat to this recovery would be government-created. In an effort to eliminate these potential barriers, I'm proud to work with Congressman Lipinski to put forward bipartisan legislation that puts forward a long-term strategy to focus our attention on the challenges inhibiting our global competitiveness."

To help remove regulatory burdens on job creators, Reps. Gregg Harper (MS-3) and Bill Owens (NY-23) introduced a bill to repeal an obsolete mandate requiring motor vehicle insurance cost reporting. The legislation eliminates a requirement for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop information on insurance rates for different makes and models of passenger vehicles and NHTSA's rule requiring dealers to make such information available to prospective buyers. Consumers rarely seek the information required by the regulation and its value is questionable. Research shows other factors such as driver history, locale, and vehicle use have much greater influence on insurance rates than damage susceptibility.

"This simple and bipartisan bill, if passed, would show that Congress is serious about efforts to alleviate burdensome and unneeded regulations on businesses across the country," said Harper. "The president states that it is a priority of his administration to identify and eliminate costly, outdated and unneeded regulations; I say Congress should lead now with H.R. 5859."

"Both of the bills under consideration are positive economic steps and enjoy bipartisan support. I applaud my colleagues for their work in drafting these commonsense solutions," said Bono Mack.

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