Make It In America
In 2022, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Democrats unveiled the new Make It In America plan to create jobs and expand economic opportunity. With too many Americans only getting by instead of getting ahead, the plan focuses on four key areas where Congress can be a partner in creating the best conditions for the growth of jobs and opportunities. They are: education, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, and supply chain resilience. Twenty-two bipartisan Make It In America bills have now been enacted into law, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021 and the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022.
To read Leader Hoyer’s remarks on the updated Make It In America plan, click here. For more information on the goals and policy recommendations included in the Make It In America plan, click here.
First launched by Leader Hoyer in 2010 when our economic recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis was just beginning, the Make It In America plan has been focused on gathering the best ideas and transforming them into policies that Congress can enact to help workers and businesses succeed. The plan has brought together bipartisan policies and legislation aimed at promoting economic growth, the creation of jobs that won’t be outsourced, and building a competitive workforce that can access opportunities in today’s changing global economy.
Recognizing the many changes that took place during our recovery, House Democrats held a series of hearings in 2015 called “Make It In America: What’s Next?” to explore new challenges and new opportunities in our economy. During the hearing series, seventy-seven House Democrats heard testimony from innovators, entrepreneurs, economists, Members of Congress, and others about how the Make It In America plan should be updated to address new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities. Click here for a look at testimony from the hearings. It was in these hearings that House Democrats identified the three original areas on which Congress ought to focus: education, entrepreneurship, and infrastructure.
Understanding that the best ideas would come from outside of Washington, Leader Hoyer and House Democrats embarked on the Make It In America Listening Tour starting in 2017, visiting nine cities across the country to hear directly from Americans about the challenges they face and identifying best practices in meeting them. The ideas shared on this tour informed the 2018 update to the Make It In America plan.
As we continue our financial recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Make It In America agenda is responding to the challenges of today’s economy with the inclusion of a fourth pillar, supply chain resilience, which joins MIIA’s existing pillars of education, entrepreneurship, and infrastructure to serve as an effective playbook to expand American families’ and businesses’ access to the tools they need to succeed in our twenty-first century global economy
The executive order, signed today by President Obama, creating an Interagency Task Force on Commercial Advocacy will help American businesses compete more effectively overseas. This is an important step in the ongoing effort by this Administration to ensure a level playing field for American companies seeking to do business abroad and export their goods.
"The ruling by the World Trade Organization shows that President Obama continues to stand tough against China and is fully committed to ensuring American businesses are competing on a level-playing field. This is just one in a number of cases the Obama Administration has taken to the WTO to hold China accountable for their illegal trade practices...
Today's decision by the President to impose tough tariffs on Chinese solar imports is just the latest step by the Obama Administration to get tough on foreign companies who don't play by the rules. I applaud his move, which will help American manufacturers compete here at home and overseas.
“Today’s manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management reveals that manufacturing continues to be a bright spot during our economic recovery, expanding in 35 of the last 38 months and adding jobs for 36 consecutive months. But the recent contraction in the sector makes clear that Congress must take action to help our businesses compete and reduce economic uncertainty so we can ensure this positive outlook continues for our nation’s manufacturers. Congress cannot afford to wait to consider a comprehensive jobs plan, like House Democrats’ Make It In America plan, that invests in and supports this manufacturing growth.
“For two years, House Democrats have put forward our Make It In America plan to create jobs by strengthening American manufacturing and making investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure that will help our businesses compete and succeed. Today’s announcement by the Departments of Commerce and Labor of the new ‘Make it in America Challenge’ is exactly the type of investment House Democrats have called for. Many American businesses want to keep jobs here at home while staying competitive in the global economy. The $40 million in competitive grants made available by the ‘Make It In America Challenge’ will help increase the trend of insourcing - U.S. companies bringing back jobs and investing here in the U.S. These grants will also assist businesses looking to expand and train American workers for jobs on our shores.
Before Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, they announced their “Pledge to America” with claims that they would focus on priorities important to the American people, such as creating jobs, restoring economic certainty, and reducing the deficit. Two years later, Republicans’ record shows that they abandoned their pledge, and instead have consistently chosen to focus on partisan political issues rather than policies to restore our economy or create jobs. Now House Republicans are adjourning until after the election, and Republican leaders are concluding their legislative agenda the same way they started it: choosing obstruction and political messaging over working together to enact policies that help Americans.
“Today’s action is yet another step taken by the Obama Administration to hold China accountable for their unfair and illegal trade practices. When competing on a level playing field, American workers, businesses, and manufacturers can out-compete anyone. But by providing illegal export subsidies to their auto and auto-parts industries, China is tilting the playing field in their favor and putting other nations, including the U.S., at a distinct disadvantage.
“I want to congratulate Dan Lipinski for authoring this legislation. It is one of the key pieces of our Make It In America agenda, which my distinguished colleague from North Carolina [Rep. G.K. Butterfield] has discussed. I want to thank my dear and good friend Mary Bono Mack for her leadership on this effort. As the gentleman said, and I could adopt his remarks, the previous speaker, Mr. Kinzinger, we do need a manufacturing policy, we do need a manufacturing renaissance, and we do need a psychology that America’s going to be number one and stay number one and create the kind of good paying jobs for our people that manufacturing provides.
“Today’s Institute for Supply Management report, the third in a row showing contraction in our manufacturing sector, reinforces the need for Congress to address manufacturing competitiveness and job growth in a comprehensive way. Democrats’ Make It In America plan will do just that by investing in education, innovation, and infrastructure to attract well paying manufacturing jobs and keep them here on our shores.
Wanted to make sure you saw today's op-ed by Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) in the Huffington Post about how innovation is a key part of House Democrats' Make It In America plan. To read the op-ed, click here or see below: