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Congressional leaders pushing for rural manufacturing boost

Congressional leaders are calling for the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to prioritize rural economies with available funds from ‘innovation legislation’.

The America Competes Act out of the U.S. House and United States Innovation and Competition Act from the Senate aim to increase domestic manufacturing production. Congresswoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois tells Brownfield the heartland has been left behind in recent years, but the legislation provides opportunity.

“We’ve got these old warehouses, let’s bring those back to life,” she said. “We’ve got supply chains that we can bring home and we’ve got the workforce in rural America that is ready to take on these jobs.”

The legislation provides $52 billion of funding to incentivize investments in facilites and equipment for semiconductor fabrication, assembly, and testing.

She says too many manufacturing jobs have left the U.S. for places like China and Mexico. Six Congressional Democrats including Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Cyndi Axne of Minnesota, and Bustos sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo earlier this week…

“We’re saying loudly and clearly ‘please make sure that rural America is front and center’,” Bustos said. “And that as we look to make it in America, we want to make sure that we make it in rural America.”

The legislation would also create the Office of Supply Chain Resiliency and authorize $45 billion for grants and loans to support U.S. supply chains.