One of the major benefits of American-made products is the creation of jobs for American workers.
With that in mind, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey touted a list of proposals that would assist American companies during a visit Aug. 26 to MPI Inc., a manufacturing company in Poughkeepsie. While some of the proposals have been enacted, some are stuck in the logjam of Senate political posturing, Hinchey said.
MPI Inc. makes wax injection machines used by other companies that make a wide range of metal consumer and industrial products. It employs 31 people and recently expanded its Smith Street plant. Over three decades in business, it has grown from a 5,000-square-foot facility to 44,000 square feet.
MPI  had about $7 million in annual sales in 2009, said Bruce Phipps, owner and president of MPI. But he noted that pre-recession in 2007, the company sold about $9 million worth of  machines. “It”™s looking pretty good,” though he said, “I don”™t see it getting up to that (2007) level.” ?A more telling statistic about the nation”™s economy, Phipps said, is his company now sells 73 percent of its machines overseas with leading markets in China, India, Brazil and Korea. As recently as five years ago, 51 percent of sales were to U.S. companies.
Hinchey said he believes that proposals making their way through Congress could help push sales higher for MPI and other domestic manufacturing companies. One bill that passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law was the Manufacturing Enhancement Act. It suspended 600 tariffs to aid competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers and help preserve American jobs?Hinchey listed several bills he had supported and that the House of Representatives had passed, including an act to close tax loopholes for U.S. companies with foreign branches. The  loophole, which he said costs American  taxpayers $11.6 billion, lets such companies shift most of their factory operations offshore in order to pay little or no taxes to the U.S.?The End the Trade Deficit Act would set up an emergency commission to recommend ways to cut trade imbalances.
Energy jobs would be assisted by a House bill,  H.R. 5156, the Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act  by creating a national clean energy technology export strategy and providing companies information to navigate foreign markets. Hinchey said that the Department of Energy estimates clean energy exports could generate $40 billion and create 750,000 U.S. jobs  in the next decade. ?But Hinchey criticized what he called a politically motivated campaign by Senate Republicans to block progress toward enacting the tax, trade deficit, clean energy and other House legislation to aid the manufacturing sector. He questioned whether the current method that requires 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate is actually constitutional, saying the Founding Fathers set up a system based on passing legislation with a simple majority of 51 votes.
