April 26, 2004

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm will be in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 27, to ask Congress and Bush Administration officials for changes in federal law and policy that will create a better business environment to improve the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector which provides some of the highest paying jobs in America.
 
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell will join Granholm in Washington for a manufacturing day that includes a Capitol Hill Forum in Room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building from 10:30 a.m. until noon.  C-Span is expected to cover the forum.
The governors will also have private meetings with Bush Administration officials and a live appearance on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight.
 
Last fall, Granholm wrote to her fellow governors in manufacturing states and asked them to convene a manufacturing summit, as she did, to identify issues that can strengthen the manufacturing sector that has lost 2.8 million jobs since 2001.  Granholm, Doyle, and Rendell, who represent three of the largest manufacturing states in the nation, will be asking Congress and the Bush Administration for changes in policy and laws related to international trade, workforce training and development, rising pension and health care costs, improvements in the U.S. and Canada border infrastructure, and energy policy.
 
“As governors, we can do everything in our power to keep jobs, but without partnership from the federal government, we’re like one hand trying to clap,” Granholm will tell members of Congress.  “We’re losing manufacturing jobs in Michigan and across the country, because there simply has not been enough of a proactive focus on supporting U.S. manufacturing in a real, meaningful way through trade policies and workforce development policies.”
 
Tuesday morning, the governors will meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce and participate in a Capitol Hill Forum moderated by New York Senator Hillary Clinton and New York Congressman Charles Rangel.  Participating in the discussion will be members of

Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Michigan Congressman Sander Levin, and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. 
 
During her presentation to the panel, Granholm will share the consensus agreement that resulted from her Manufacturing Matters Summit with business and labor leaders last December.  Together, they agreed that the federal government must:
 
•  create a level playing field in international trade by stopping currency manipulation, making countries live up to their World Trade Organization commitments, protecting the intellectual property of American companies, and insisting that America’s trade partners eliminate non-tariff barriers;

•  increase federal funding for job training and gain more flexibility in the grants to retrain current workforce, restore and increase funding for the Manufacturing Extension Program, and capture a larger share of federal funding for R&D development;

•  replace the 30-year Treasury rate with a rate based on long-term corporate bond indices and secure more funding for the uninsured and the underinsured;

•  seek federal funds to add technology, personnel, and capacity to streamline entry across the U.S.-Canadian border, improve coordination among federal agencies responsible for the border, and accelerate the development of a process for firms shipping large volumes across borders to allow self-certification and sealing of trucks. 

•  argue for a thoughtful approach to energy policy that supports manufacturing, is reliable, and promotes the use of diverse energy sources and pursue diversified, affordable, reliable, new domestic, and competitive sources of energy and investment in infrastructure as well as a national focus on conservation. 

Granholm, Doyle, and Rendell will also meet with officials from the U.S. Labor Department and co-chairs of the House Manufacturing Caucus.  Tuesday evening they will appear on Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN to discuss why manufacturing matters and what they hope their day in Washington accomplished.

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