In this town, it’s a rare occurrence for a room full of lobbyists to be truly surprised.  This morning was one of those times.  In remarks to the American Alliance for Innovation, a coalition of industry trade groups of which the NAM is a member, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) announced today that he was introducing his long-awaited Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation . . . except that rather than introducing an “alternative” bill to legislation from Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), he had instead drafted a brand new bill with Sen. Lautenberg that they were introducing along with over a dozen other Republicans and Democrats.

We commend Sens. Vitter and Lautenberg for their leadership and for achieving a far too rare feat in Washington: coming together in bipartisan fashion to propose badly-needed reform to a federal law impacting human health, manufacturers in all sectors, and American innovation.

Manufacturers are committed to producing safe, innovative and sustainable products that provide essential benefits to consumers while protecting human health and the environment. To accomplish this, we believe Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), the primary statute regulating the manufacture and use of chemical substances in the United States, should be modernized. However, we worried that the debate over how to reform this outdated law would fall prey to partisan politics, much like the vast majority of other environmental and energy issues in recent memory.

Today at least, it appears that bipartisanship can prevail. We believed Senators needed to start from scratch; it appears that they did. We believed there needed to be broad stakeholder input; once again, there was. And there needed to be some way to bridge the substantive divide between Sen. Lautenberg’s Safe Chemicals Act, which industry opposed, and this new bill being drafted by Sen. Vitter.  The Senators made it happen. (continue reading…)

Today the Senate will take up the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2013, S. 601, also known as WRDA. This legislation is critical to the competitiveness of manufacturers throughout the United States and will ensure investment in our 12,000 miles of inland and coastal waterways.  Our nation’s navigable rivers help keep transportation costs competitive and are vital for manufacturers’ supply chains to move products and commodities such as coal, petroleum, chemicals, steel, fertilizer and grain among others valued at approximately $78 billion.

Manufacturers strongly support the measures included in S. 601 to streamline environmental reviews that build off the success of coordinated reviews for federal highway and transit projects. It’s a proven process that works, saving time and money. The Federal Highway Administration recently found that environmental streamlining has cut the time to permit a highway project in half, from 73 months down to 37 months. Reducing red tape to deliver Army Corps-sponsored infrastructure projects is important progress.

We are also hopeful that S. 601 will be enhanced in the days ahead to make the nation’s vast inland waterway system more efficient and competitive. The framework provided by the Reinvesting in Vital Economic Rivers and Waterways (RIVER) Act of 2013, S.407 should be included in the final version of S. 601. A comprehensive capital development plan is necessary to achieve the full potential of a robust inland waterway system.

Too often, funds derived from Harbor Maintenance fees are diverted elsewhere instead of going into our ports and harbors for regular upkeep. The WRDA bill will ensure that the fees collected are fully used for intended harbor maintenance projects. More than 90 percent of the nation’s top 50 ports require dredging and by neglecting ports and harbors we are putting our nation’s manufacturers and industries at a competitive disadvantage.

The Senate’s anticipated swift action this week should signal to the House the importance of soon moving on its version of WRDA legislation.

Manufacturers rely on our nation’s inland waterways and ports to support jobs and grow. Our nation will fall even further behind if we do not make the necessary investments in critical transportation infrastructure.

Robyn Boerstling is director of transportation and Infrastructure Policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a confirmation hearing for the EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s nominee for EPA administrator.

Several senators had questions about the EPA’s proposed regulations and their impact on the economy as well as the continued act of what is known as “sue and settle” by the agency. Senator Vitter (R-LA) asked McCarthy if the EPA would change its process regarding “sue and settle” and alert other stakeholders when legal action is taken.

The NAM sent a letter yesterday to Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe asking the agency to please provide some sort of alert system for each time a lawsuit is filed against the agency or if they receive a notice of legal action.

Senator Inhofe (R-OK) asked McCarthy if the EPA planned to make any changes to the proposed greenhouse gas rule on for new power plants and she did not provide any information on the agency’s plan for the rule. This rule would essentially prevent the construction of any new coal burning power plants and several types of new gas-fired power plants. Manufacturers believe we should continue to take advantage of all sources of energy, including but not limited to coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, renewables, and energy efficiency. Lower energy prices help manufacturers better compete and taking some sources off the table  will only hurt our long term competitiveness.

Moving forward we would like the EPA to take into careful consideration the cost and economic impact of all regulations proposed by the agency.

The Senate budget amendment process known as Vote-A-Rama was, in many ways, an opportunity for Senators to test policy priorities to determine where consensus may lie.  Energy issues were no exception, and I’m encouraged to see that strong bipartisan support exists for many of manufacturers’ energy priorities.

The Senate passed by voice vote an amendment by Sen. Barrasso that protects exports from being bogged down by new layers of permitting and regulation, on the grounds that the exports would emit greenhouse gases after leaving the country. Sen. Barrasso’s amendment would prohibit Federal agencies from considering, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), greenhouse gas emissions produced outside the United States by any good exported from the United States. This drastic expansion of NEPA, which is being contemplated in the case of Keystone XL and for permits to export coal and natural gas, would create a precedent that could be used to block exports of all types, not just fossil fuels. Sen. Barasso’s amendment did not weaken NEPA in any way; it merely protects against efforts to expand permitting for exports further than what the law currently requires.

Two dueling amendments were voted on related to Keystone XL: one from Sen. Boxer that would preserve the regulatory status quo and one from Sen. Hoeven that would speed up the process and finally get the project approved and constructed. The Boxer amendment failed on a lopsided 66-33 vote. The Hoeven amendment passed, 62-37, the first time I can recall Keystone XL crossing the magical 60-vote threshold in the Senate.  This should put the administration on notice: both the House and Senate have now demonstrated they can get a bill to approve Keystone XL on the President’s desk. (continue reading…)

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced legislation yesterday that strongly promotes the use of Industry recognized Credentials. The bill, called the Careers through Responsive, Efficient and Effective Retraining (CAREER) Act looks to streamline the Workforce system by increasing incentives for accountability through a pay-for-performance metric for job training serves, creating access to the National Directory for New Hires, looks to streamline to multitude of job training programs and steers Federal dollars towards credentials in-demand by industry.

These changes are a positive step towards improving the workforce system. Particularly, we are pleased that it emphasized the need to focus efforts and resources towards skills and credentials that are recognized and in-demand by the private sector. The NAM looks forward to working with Senators Portman and Bennet on this effort.

Joe Trauger is vice president of human resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Yesterday afternoon nearly 400 manufacturers took to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress and their staffs about the issues that are vital to manufacturing. On the docket to discuss over the two day Summit is tax, energy and workforce.

Yesterday afternoon Rich Gimmel of Atlas Machine and Supply from Louisville, Kentucky visited several offices on Capitol Hill for the 2012 Manufacturing Summit. His first visit was with Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). Senator Paul joined the meeting shortly after giving a speech on the Senate floor.

Rich and several of the other manufacturers in the meeting told Senator Paul about how the tax burden we face at the end of the year will impact their businesses. They also discussed the importance of continuing to develop new sources of energy like shale and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Also discussed was Senator Inhofe’s CRA vote that will be coming up soon to halt the EPA’s  Utility MACT regulation.

In a meeting later in the afternoon with Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY) Rich discussd how important workforce issues are to manufacturers and how difficult it is to find skilled workers to fill open jobs. Rich also relayed to the Congressman the conern over the tax burden coming at the end of the year.

Additional meetings will continue today on the Hill so stay tuned for more updates.

It’s extremely disappointing the Senate failed today to take a stand for jobs and manufacturers by voting down important amendments to the transportation bill that would delay the harmful Boiler MACT regulations, expand exploration of the Outer Continental Shelf and approve the Keystone XL pipeline project. Senators failed to pass these amendments which would have saved jobs, created jobs and injected the economy with new life. 

There were 52 votes in support of the Collins amendment. Lisa Jackson, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has spent much of the past eight days up in the Senate meeting with Democratic Senators trying to convince them that there was really no need for the Senate to pass legislation. The standards the EPA has put forward are not achievable with our current technology, and the EPA knows this.

Manufacturers want reasonable and achievable regulations. They want some degree of certainty. They want government to quit trying to pick winners or favorites.

The Vitter amendment to expand drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) was rejected on a 46-52 vote. Senators need to realize that every barrel of oil produced in North America is another barrel that we don’t have to pull from somewhere else in the world. The more sources of oil and the more supply of oil means energy will be more affordable for manufacturers and that means more jobs. The Vitter amendment would open up vast tracks of the OCS to oil exploration and make the country more self-reliant.  (continue reading…)

Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration bill by a vote of 75-20. The bill is funded through 2014.

The bill’s passage is major news after four years of trial and error, resulting in 23 temporary extensions. It will provide infrastructure improvements, next generation air traffic control and common sense regulatory reforms that won’t hinder growth. This is great news for American manufacturers.

Job creation and infrastructure investment are two of the NAM’s top priorities and this legislation takes important steps toward accomplishing them. The House passed the bill on February 3, by a margin of 248-169. The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature.

Yesterday Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Ayotte (R-NH) had a colloquy on the Senate floor where Senator Rubio made a very strong point about now not being the time to increase taxes business owners.

Here is the excerpt from Senator Rubio’s remarks:

“We don’t need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system.”

As we have said before, tax increases on manufacturers will only dampen economic growth and hurt job creation. Manufacturers are faced with countless regulations and tax burdens that harm their ability to grow. If manufacturers are able to create jobs then there will be additional taxpayers paying into the system. Piling on with additional tax increases will only harm our recovery.

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing with regards to the Outer Continental Shelf and domestic oil and gas production.  Secretary Ken Salazar testified before the Committee on a framework for “efficient and responsible” drilling.  Unfortunately, Secretary Salazar, much in line with the Administration’s misguided policies, promoted those principles that will ultimately raise the price of energy for manufacturers and consumers alike. 

Those pillars that were endorsed by Secretary Salazar include, but are not limited to:  (1) amending the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 in order to reduce the time for oil and gas leases; (2) extending the time that the Department of Interior has for reviewing exploration plans submitted by companies; and (3) imposing fees on companies with non-producing oil and gas leases.  

The Interior is pushing for policies that are ultimately counterproductive and will not solve the current predicament of high energy, with little relief in sight.  The policies that the Interior highlighted as their “wish list” show that the Administration is out of touch with the American consumer and the needs of the manufacturing community, who consume a third of our nations’ energy. 

The Administration needs to refocus its priorities to ensure that more companies are given the opportunity to return to the Gulf of Mexico in order to explore and drill for oil and gas.  Furthermore, the Interior needs to streamline its permitting process and provide companies holding leases the time they need to safely and effectively explore and develop much needed domestic energy. 

 Finally, those companies that are not able to produce oil and gas at a given time should not be penalized, as they spend a millions of dollars exploring and developing in reliance on their leases.  Perhaps the Administration needs to look at opening those areas that are currently under a moratorium in order to ensure that companies are exploring and developing those areas with the most potential to contain oil and gas, providing more domestic energy while creating a climate for economic growth and job creation.

These misguided policies must be addressed by the administration and they must reverse course and put in place common-sense policies so energy producers can get back to work, producing domestic energy and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. This will spur job creation and continued economic growth; two critical factors that will help this country recover from the economic recession we have been battling.

Mahta Mahdavi is director of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers