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
“I commend the Obama Administration for continuing to make manufacturing revitalization a top priority by announcing a new National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in Youngstown, Ohio. This public-private partnership will begin laying the groundwork for the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation the President proposed earlier this year and remains an important part of House Democrats’ Make It In America jobs plan.
“After thirty-four consecutive months of robust growth, our manufacturing sector contracted slightly in July for the second month in a row, a sign we must do more to help manufacturers invest in new products, expand into new markets, and grow for the future. But manufacturing companies are hampered by a deepening sense of uncertainty created by the lack of a serious effort by this Congress to enact comprehensive jobs legislation and make the investments we need in out-educating, out-innovating, and out-building our overseas competitors.
“I was disappointed that Senate Republicans blocked legislation today that would have ended tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas. The Bring Jobs Home Act, one of the bills House Democrats added to our Make It In America jobs plan last week, would eliminate deductions for moving expenses when companies outsource and would provide a tax credit to those businesses that bring jobs back home. This type of reform is necessary to stop encouraging the export of jobs and instead help manufacturers hire workers here to produce goods we can export across the world.
“Infrastructure is critical to attracting manufacturing businesses and improving U.S. economic competitiveness, which is why I’m pleased that President Obama announced that projects modernizing and expanding five major ports will be expedited. Upgrading our port and freight infrastructure is a central component of House Democrats’ Make It In America jobs plan, with a number of bills aimed at helping manufacturers more easily move their goods to market and revitalizing our aging port and freight facilities.
“The President’s new STEM Master Teachers Corps is a bold initiative aimed at making American students more competitive in today’s job market. In meetings with manufacturing leaders, I hear the same message: manufacturers want to bring jobs back, but we are not producing enough workers with the science and math skills necessary. Recruiting, retaining, and rewarding highly-effective STEM teachers will improve the likelihood that our students will graduate with the skills they need to compete for jobs and pursue postsecondary studies. I am pleased the President will immediately make resources available through the Teacher Incentive Fund to meet these objectives.
“The final recommendations of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee, released this afternoon by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, represent another step forward in the Obama Administration’s drive to boost our manufacturing competitiveness. While Republicans in Congress continue to delay and obstruct Democratic proposals to invest in manufacturing growth and job creation, the President has continued to pursue other avenues aimed at making it easier for manufacturers to relocate here, innovate, expand, and create well paying, middle-class jobs.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP
To highlight our commitment to creating jobs, House Democrats joined me this week in announcing new legislation added to our Make It In America plan, a comprehensive jobs package that invests in manufacturing in order to create jobs and grow our economy. The new list of Make It In America bills focuses on strengthening our infrastructure so businesses can
House Democrats this week upped their pressure on GOP leaders to lend a boost to U.S. manufacturing.
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) discussed House Democrats' Make It In America jobs plan and the Republican vote to take away health care protections for millions of Americans on CNN, MSNBC and FOX. See below for excerpts of the interviews and links to the videos.
Democrats introduced a comprehensive jobs plan two years ago to get more Americans back to work by creating the right conditions for manufacturing businesses to invest, expand and hire. Our plan, called “Make It in America,” aims to revitalize our manufacturing sector in order to increase economic competitiveness and create jobs that won’t be shipped overseas.