Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) speaks from his experience as a manufacturer in this excellent column in today’s Politico, “U.S. may risk losing race for R&D incentives,” to call for the retroactive extension of the Research and Development Tax Credit.

Before I ran for Congress in 2008, I helped run a business in Western New York. We manufactured motion control components — including motors, actuators, vibration isolators and industrial shock absorbers. Our products are used in the Tomahawk cruise missile, in medical equipment, on rail cars (including the subway system in the Capitol building) and in aircraft.

This gave me experience with the daily challenges U.S. manufacturers face to stay on the cutting edge, create jobs and compete successfully against global competitors. Research and development on innovative new products is critical. It’s no surprise, then, that manufacturers perform half of all R&D in the U.S., according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

So our economic recovery and the future of U.S. manufacturing depend on firms having the right incentives to make vital investments in R&D.

The NAM has prepared a ManuFact fact sheet on the credit, “R&D Tax Credit: Keep Manufacturers Competitive in the Global Race for R&D Investment Dollars.”

We’ve previously noted here the challenges facing manufacturing in New York that are similar to those in other states around the nation. Yesterday, Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) at a manufacturing facility outside of Buffalo, NY, announced his plan to help manufacturers create and retain jobs. Rep. Lee’s plan focuses on five key policy areas that are important to long-term manufacturing competitiveness not just in New York but for all manufacturers throughout the country:

• Tax relief and fairness for U.S. workers and manufacturers
• Education and workforce training and preparedness for the 21^st century
• Tort reform to address job-killing lawsuit abuse
• Customs reform to stop intellectual property violations
• Open new markets to create U.S. jobs and grow our domestic manufacturing base

Rep. Lee is familiar with the challenges facing manufacturers and the need for creating good, high-paying manufacturing jobs, as he ran a manufacturing company prior to be elected to Congress. The Congressman’s plan is something that all members of Congress should embrace and builds on many aspects of the NAM’s “Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America.” For more information click here.