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Sen. Coons: Manufacturing Jobs Must Be Central To SOTU

U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) has today called for President Obama to focus tonight’s State of the Union address on ways the government will help American manufacturers expand and create new jobs.

As part of our ongoing plan to track the Manufacturing Jobs for America Congressional initiative, we bring you news about updates to the relevant bills proposed, or statements made, by the initiative’s members. For more news, visit our Manufacturing Jobs for America page.


Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) has today called for President Obama to focus tonight’s State of the Union address on ways the government will help American manufacturers expand and create new jobs.

Sen. Coons said, “This is about fighting for American workers. Not just those who are long-term unemployed, who are a core concern, but those who are underemployed, and those who are working two jobs. What I hear from Delawareans, week in and week out, is that they used to work at the auto plant and now they’re working two jobs to make half as much as they did at the auto plant.”

The senator has been featured on Manufacturing.net recently due to his heading of the Manufacturing Jobs for America initiative in the Senate, which we have been covering over the last few weeks as its campaigners and relevant bills champion its causes. He says that his initiative has grown to include 44 bills from 26 senators.

He added that his constituents “want to hear the President stand up at the State of the Union and say that we’re going to fight for the middle class by growing manufacturing in this country.”

Sen. Coons cites polling data from Alliance for American Manufacturers on Monday, generated by both Democratic and Republican firms, that among voters who are struggling to pay bills and generally get by, the loss of manufacturing jobs is the No. 1 concern — ahead of taxes and income inequality. That poll also cites government policy, not globalization or automation, as the reason behind the loss and slow growth of these jobs.

 

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