President Obama releases his budget on Wednesday. Today, he travels to Connecticut to push for additional gun control laws. After releasing the budget on Wednesday, he meets with 12 GOP senators for dinner. On Thursday, he will award a posthumous Medal of Honor to Army Capt. Emil Kapaun for his service in the Korean War. On Friday, the Midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy visit the White House to receive the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, which recognizes the Academy’s football victories over Army and Air Force.

The Senate returns today and could spend the week debating gun control legislation.

The House returns on Tuesday and kicks off a light week. One measure the House will likely take up is the Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act (H.R. 1120), which would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from issuing decisions or rulemakings pending Supreme Court review of the President’s recess appointments to the Board. The Majority Leader’s schedule for the week is available here.

Senate Hearings: TUESDAY—A Judiciary subcommittee holds a hearing on campaign finance laws. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee considers the nomination of Ernest Moniz to serve as secretary of energy. WEDNESDAY—The Commerce Committee holds a hearing on “Expanding the Panama Canal: What Does it Mean for American Freight and Infrastructure?” THURSDAY—The Environment and Public Works Committee considers the nomination of Gina McCarthy to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Budget Committee reviews President Obama’s budget proposal.

House Hearings: TUESDAY—An Education and Workforce subcommittee holds a field hearing in Michigan on “Reviving Our Economy: The Role of Higher Education in Job Growth and Development.” An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers the reauthorizations of the Animal Drug User Fee Act and the Animal Generic Drug User Fee Act. WEDNESDAY—An Appropriations subcommittee conducts oversight of the Small Business Administration. Another Appropriations subcommittee considers “Regulatory Approaches to Foster Economic Growth.” An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers the Northern Route Approval Act (H.R. 3), which would approve the Keystone XL pipeline. An Education and Workforce subcommittee holds a hearing on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers “Our Nation of Builders: Powering U.S. Automobile Manufacturing Forward.” The Small Business Committee examines tax reform as it relates to small businesses. THURSDAY—A Financial Services subcommittee holds a hearing on derivatives. An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act. The Ways and Means Committee looks at the President’s budget proposal. A Small Business subcommittee examines the implementation of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The Budget Committee reviews the President’s budget. FRIDAY—An Energy and Commerce subcommittee reviews the Energy Consumers Relief Act. An Appropriations subcommittee examines the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s budget.

Executive Branch: Secretary of State John Kerry is in the midst of a trip across the Middle East and Asia, with a brief detour to London. Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius awards the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to a number of businesses, including Lockheed Martin in the manufacturing category.

Economic Reports: From The New York Times: “Data to be released include wholesale trade for February (Tuesday); weekly jobless claims and import prices for March (Thursday); and retail sales for March, the Producer Price Index for March, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April and business inventories for February (Friday).”

President Obama hosts the annual White House Easter Egg Roll today. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Singapore visits the White House. The President then travels to Denver on Wednesday to talk about gun control measures before heading to California for fundraising events. On Friday, he hosts the Easter Prayer Breakfast.

The House and Senate are off this week.

Executive Branch: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel welcomes the Prime Minister of Singapore to the Pentagon today. Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sanchez is in China and Mongolia this week to discuss business opportunities arising from infrastructure projects in those countries. On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank will discuss the National Cybersecurity Framework.

Economic Reports: From The New York Times: “Data to be released this week include the I.S.M. manufacturing index for March and construction spending for February (Monday); factory orders for February (Tuesday); A.D.P. employment and the I.S.M. nonmanufacturing index for March (Wednesday); weekly jobless claims (Thursday); and unemployment for March and the trade deficit and consumer credit for February (Friday).”

NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons joined NAM Board Member Ron Bullock, CEO of Bison Engineering, to discuss a study released by MAPI and the Aspen Institute that takes a look at what our economy would look like if the power of manufacturing were truly unleashed. The paper explores what changes we can expect if manufacturing grows from its current share of 11.5 percent of the U.S. economy, to the 15 percent or more that it enjoyed in 1998.

Thomas J. Duesterberg, the Aspen Institute’s Executive Director of Manufacturing and Society in the 21st Century presented the study to a crowd of over 100 people and then participated in a lively discussion with Mr. Timmons and Mr. Bullock moderated by MAPI President Stephen Gold.

Mr. Timmons pointed to the NAM’s Growth Agenda as the pathway to achieving these dynamic results. He noted that, “the report being unveiled today provides a glimpse of what a manufacturing resurgence would look like in America.  The results are astounding. Millions more jobs. A larger economy. More exports, to name just a few benefits. Importantly, this report demonstrates the consequences of staying on our current path. Its shows what will happen if policymakers fail to enact pro-growth policies.”

This is an aspirational study – but it demonstrates what the positive impact we’d see if only policymakers in Washington would adopt the pro-growth agenda that manufacturers have laid out for them.

The President and his advisors have repeatedly stressed that they do not believe they have to choose between the environment and the economy. The governors of Oregon and Washington are not making it easy on him; in fact, that’s precisely the choice they’ve asked him to make on exports. In a letter sent today to the President’s Council on Environmental Quality, the two governors asked for a boundless, limitless, and to our knowledge unprecedented, life cycle impact analysis of five planned coal export terminals and the cargo being transported through them, all before issuing a permit for the first one.

The kind of review they are asking for is Keystone-on-steroids; they want the President to decide whether we should be exporting coal AT ALL before issuing a permit to expand the terminals. Never mind that the ports will ship other products besides coal. Never mind that thousands of high-paying construction jobs are at stake in a region where construction jobs are at their lowest point in a decade. And never mind that such a radical change in the law could be used to block exports of, well, everything.

This last point has manufacturers very concerned. Virtually every product we export, from cars to turbines to planes to grains, has an environmental impact. The already-too-long permitting process for new projects–a process that takes on average 3.4 years–would become completely unmanageable if the law were expanded to require the type of review the two governors are now seeking.

The NAM was created in 1895 because manufacturers needed to find opportunities to export their products. We will continue to fight efforts to erect unnecessary barriers beyond what is required by law.

Ross Eisenberg is vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today, President Obama speaks at a naturalization ceremony. This evening, he hosts a Passover Seder at the White House. On Tuesday, the Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Major League Soccer champions, the LA Galaxy, visit the White House. On Thursday, four African leaders meet with President Obama: President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde. President Obama rounds out the week with a trip to Miami, where he will talk about the economy.

The House and Senate are out this week.

Executive Branch: Vice President Biden meets with the Foreign Minister of Australia today. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Afghanistan for meetings with President Hamid Karzai. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano attends the naturalization ceremony with President Obama.

Economic Reports: From The New York Times: “Economic data to be released include durable goods for February, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing price index for January, new home sales for February and consumer confidence for March (Tuesday); pending home sales for February, weekly jobless claims, fourth-quarter gross domestic product (revised) and the Chicago P.M.I. for March (Thursday); and personal income and spending for February and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for March (Friday).”

The National Press Club in Washington, DC. - a panel on the workforce skills gap in STEM careers and education. Bud Cramer (at podium), panelists (l-r) Aric Newhouse, of the NAM, U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, and Fred Humphries, Microsoft.

Today, NAM Senior VP for Policy and Government Relations, Aric Newhouse, took part in a panel discussion on, “Strengthening the American workforce: Addressing the skills gap,” with Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Fred Humphries, Microsoft Vice President of US Government Affairs. Hosted by Center Forward, a non-partisan organization, the event focused on the need to close the skills gap in the U.S. by enacting legislation like the America Works Act. The bill, introduced by Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC), Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Senator Dean Heller (R-NV), would modify existing federal job training programs to more effectively prepare American workers and to help manufacturers remain competitive in the global marketplace.  You can check out video of the event here.

Mr. Newhouse told the audience that “manufacturers need a skilled workforce to compete in the 21^st century economy. The ongoing skills gap that has left approximately 600,000 manufacturing jobs unfilled across the country directly undercuts America’s competitiveness. Policy solutions like the America Works Act give employers the confidence that the workers they hire will have the skills that fit today’s technologically advanced manufacturing.  The NAM is committed to continuing its partnerships with policymakers, manufacturers, and educational institutions to deliver the workforce that will help create a manufacturing resurgence in the U.S.”

The NAM-Manufacturing Institute partnership was mentioned often, particularly the Institute’s efforts on the ground with educational groups and their initiatives like “Dream it Do It.” Mr. Newhouse added that the backbone of innovation, and the backbone of growth in manufacturing comes from the employees who make up its workforce.”

Manufacturers consistently list the skills gap as one of the most pressing issues they face and the NAM is working with policymakers to solve the problem. In doing so, we will find a solution that addresses the skills shortage in the near-term and sets the U.S. up for long-term growth.

Markit reported that manufacturing activity edged somewhat higher in March, continuing its recent gains. The Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the United States rose from 54.3 in February to 54.9 in March. This figure was boosted by a pickup in new orders (from 55.4 to 55.9), exports (from 48.5 to 51.2), and employment (from 53.5 to 54.6). Note that new export orders shifted from contraction to expansion, which was a good sign. Output also increased, but at a slower rate, down from 57.3 to 56.8. With that said, those numbers indicate decent growth in production overall.

Similarly, the economy in China has also been improving. The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI increased from 50.4 in February to 51.7 in February. This follows the somewhat surprising decline in February, bringing March’s PMI reading closer to January’s 52.3 number. The pace of growth for output, new orders, and exports accelerated; while hiring slowed down slightly but continued to grow. This data show that China continues to experience modest growth overall, much as it has since October. Prior to that point, the Chinese economy had contracted for 12 straight months.

These two surveys stand in contrast to what Europe is experiencing. The Markit Flash Eurozone PMI dropped from 47.8 in February to 46.5 in March, its lowest level since December.  Manufacturing activity was down across-the-board, with declining sales, output, and employment. The economic situation in Europe continues to deteriorate, with very weak activity in countries such as France (with their Flash PMI unchanged at 43.9) and even Germany (down from 50.3 to 48.9) facing lackluster growth.

Of course, the banking crisis in Cyprus and its ability to remain in the European Union have served to further reduce confidence. Markit Chief Economist Chris Williamson said, “The deteriorating situation in Cyprus also raises the prospect of business and consumer confidence falling further across the single currency area, and possibly dragging the PMI numbers down further in April.” This suggests that the data for April are expected to continue to reflect a contraction on the continent.

Chad Moutray is chief economist, National Association of Manufacturers.

The NAM applauds the action of the House Agriculture Committee earlier today in reporting out two bills that are critical to derivatives end-users like manufacturers. These bills, H.R. 634, the “Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2013” and H.R. 677 the “Inter-Affiliate Swap Clarification Act” are key priorities for manufacturers and will ensure that end-users are fully exempt from posting margin and that inter-affiliate trades are not treated the same as market-facing trades and are exempt from clearing requirements.

As a steering committee member of the Coalition for Derivatives End-Users the NAM has been leading in advocating for the passage of these bills. Today’s mark-up came on the heels of last week’s House Ag Committee hearing where the Coalition had two witnesses testify in support of these bills including NAM member company Honeywell who testified in support of H.R. 634. That these bills were reported out of the House Agriculture Committee so quickly following the hearing is a solid indication that strong support exists for end-users.

We now look forward swift consideration of these two common-sense, cost and job saving bills in the near-term by the House Financial Services Committee in the coming weeks and the NAM will be leading the charge to have this accomplished.

President Obama meets with the Prime Minister of Ireland tomorrow. After celebrating a belated St. Patrick’s Day, the President heads to Israel. On Wednesday, he meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Thursday, he meets with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Friday.

The Senate meets today and resumes work on the continuing resolution (H.R. 933), which would fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

The House also meets today and will take up two bills on the suspension calendar. Its priority for the week is Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget resolution. The Majority Leader’s calendar is available here.

Senate Hearings: TUESDAY—The Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee marks up the nomination of Richard Cordray to serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Finance Committee examines the President’s trade plans. An Armed Services subcommittee holds a hearing on cybersecurity threats.

WEDNESDAY—The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee marks up the Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Reauthorization Act. The Judiciary Committee looks at “The Future of Drones in America: Law Enforcement and Privacy Considerations.” Later that day, the Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on “Building an Immigration System Worthy of American Values.”

House Hearings: TUESDAY—An Energy and Commerce subcommittee considers “The Role of Regulators and Grid Operators in Meeting Natural Gas and Electric Coordination Challenges.” An Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee examines natural gas exports. WEDNESDAY—The House Agriculture Committee marks up a number of bills amending the Dodd-Frank law. A Science, Space and Technology Committee considers “Improving EPA’s Scientific Advisory Processes.” The Education and Workforce Committee marks up the Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act (H.R. 1120). An Appropriations subcommittee holds a closed hearing on “Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure.” THURSDAY—An Energy and Commerce subcommittee holds a hearing on “Our Nation of Builders: The Strength of Steel.” A Small Business subcommittee looks at “Protecting Small Businesses Against Emerging and Complex Cyber-Attacks.”

Executive Branch: Vice President Biden is in Rome for the installation of the new pope on Tuesday. Today, he meets with the president and prime minister of Italy.

Economic Reports: From The New York Times: “Data to be released include housing starts for February (Tuesday) and weekly jobless claims, existing home sales for February, the Philadelphia Fed index for March and leading economic indicators for February (Thursday).”

That would be a good way to describe what’s happening in Congress this week. It’s the beginning of the statutorily mandated budget season with the House and Senate Budget Committees majorities unveiling their budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2014. This is the first time  that’s happened in four years and, for manufacturers, that’s a positive step towards getting our fiscal house in order  We have long said that it’s time to end the tendency over the past several years to ricochet from one economic precipice to another. It’s is time for comprehensive entitlement and tax reforms that would result in getting our nation’s debt and deficit picture under control.

So this week’s action is something that has been sorely needed. Broadly speaking, both the House Republican and Senate Democratic proposals call for tax reform, both seek to reform the growth of entitlement spending and both seek to stabilize the debt. Of course though, as with the way most things have gone in Washington over the past several years, that’s about where the similarities end because how each plan proposes to accomplish these goals is entirely at odds and which one prevails will have many real, significant and lasting impacts on the nation.

We are pleased that the House Republican budget would result in a balanced ledger in 10 years. And we’re pleased that the Senate Democrats in their budget include a nod toward tinkering with a long-sacred cow of entitlement spending although there is a still a long way to go. As NAM’s president Jay Timmons said in the recently released Growth Agenda, “The United States needs a comprehensive plan for economic growth. A bipartisan commitment in Washington to pro-growth policies will make our nation a more competitive place to do business.”  This plan has typically started with the budget process.

This is not to say that just because budgets have been marked up in the respective House and Senate Committees that we’re in for smooth sailing from here. By no means is that likely to be the case, however, as we said at the outset, this is the beginning of the beginning. And we hope it’s the beginning of a real and substantive conversation that will move beyond talking points and allow for a conversation about what the United States needs to fully emerge from the recent economic slow-down and once again compete.

Manufacturers have many ideas of what’s needed to fully accomplish this and those are described in the Growth Agenda and to once again use Jay’s words “manufacturers need our elected leaders to choose policies that make this country a better place to invest, a better place to innovate and a better place from which to export. They must choose policies that strengthen our workforce so that it meets the needs of manufacturing in the 21st century.” This means that we need tax reform, entitlement reform and spending reform that will allow our nation and its businesses to know what the path is and to know that the economy is on sound footing and government is not hampering growth. Tackling these tough issues will not be easy but it is essential for us to compete in the global economy. The NAM will continue to advocate for the policies that will succeed in Making America strong.