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Congressional Democrats yesterday unveiled the Make It In America plan for the 112th congress. This is a set of specific, detailed, targeted bills that clearly create jobs and restore our economic competitiveness, beginning with a national strategy for manufacturing. This is very different from the vague, sloganeering, lobbyist-written plan offered by Senate Republicans.

Yesterday House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi unveiled their Make It In America plan “to support job creation today and in the future by encouraging businesses to make products and innovate in the US and sell it to the world through strengthening our infrastructure and supporting investments in key areas like education and energy innovation.”

This Make It In America initiative involves a series of bills that have been introduced for consideration by the 112th Congress. This initiative will create jobs here, grow the economy and reduce the trade deficit, all of which help reduce our budget deficits. Creating jobs and growing the economy reduces deficits by increasing tax revenues and decreasing spending on unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc.

Some of the Make It In America bills are:

  • Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (Reps. Levin and Tim Ryan, H.R. 639):Levels the trade playing field by holding accountable countries that create an unfair trade advantage by manipulating their currency.
  • National Manufacturing Strategy Act (Rep. Lipinski, H.R. 1366): Directs the president to work with industry, labor leaders, and other stakeholders to develop a national strategy to increase manufacturing.
  • Build American Jobs Act (Rep. Levin, H.R. 922): Build America Bonds to Create Jobs Now Act (Rep. Connolly, H.R. 11): Extends the Build America Bonds program, provides additional funding for the Recovery Zone bonds program, and makes improvements to existing bond and credit programs to help states and local governments leverage private capital to create jobs today and build the infrastructure that is the backbone of future economic growth.
  • National Infrastructure Development Bank Act (Rep. DeLauro, H.R. 402): Establishes a wholly-owned government corporation to facilitate efficient investments in and financing of infrastructure projects—from leading-edge broadband networks and energy delivery systems to modern ports—that foster economic development and keep America competitive.
  • Innovative Technologies Investment Incentives Act (Rep. Van Hollen): Accelerates innovation by providing a 25% tax credit for qualified equity investments in eligible high technology and biotechnology small businesses.
  • Build a 21st Century Surface Transportation System: Enact a Surface Transportation Authorization bill to create a modern and efficient transportation system that facilitates trade and industry.
  • Workforce Investment Act: Our economy is only as strong as the people who work to grow it. The American workforce investment system is supported by a partnership of educators, workforce development professionals and the business community who work together to ensure the vitality of local economies. A robust reauthorization of WIA will ensure that workers who seek opportunities in a new field or new opportunities within their own field have the support they need.
  • The Keep American Jobs from Going Down the Drain Act (Rep. Sutton, H.R. 1684): Gives preference to U.S.-made goods and materials for use in the installation, replacement, and improvement of drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
  • There are clean energy manufacturing, energy efficiency and alternative energy bills, as well.

    Specifics, Plans, Details

    This is not a vague set of platitudes and lobbyist-written slogans (see below). These are several specific, targeted bills that create jobs and fix problems that have hindered and are hindering job grown and competitiveness.

    Whip Hoyer appeared on on CNBC to discuss the Make It In America plan.

    And today in a formal unveiling of the plan for the 112th Congress, Hoyer said,

    "The Make It In America agenda is about investing in this country’s proud tradition of making things. Make It In America means creating the conditions for companies to make products here, innovate here, and hire workers here—and the conditions for America to have the best-trained workforce in the world. This agenda is founded on the conviction that when we make more products in America, more families will be able to Make It In America, as well.

    The Republican Plan

    Senate Republicans Tuesday released their own plan. Apparently transcribed from a Chamber of Commerce lobbyist memo of slogan suggestions, they say their plan will boost the economy. See if you can guess what their plan is. Hint: the same plan that "boosted the economy" from 2001-2009: tax cuts for the rich, get rid of unions, get rid of consumer and employee protections and other points that led to a decade of no job growth, low economic growth, wage decline, corruption, concentration of income at the very top and culminated in a financial collapse that brought the world's economy down and left us with extreme unemployment and trillion-plus deficits. They have a Seven-Point-Plan to do all that again, but more.

    Here is the Seven-Point-Plan, translated from lobbyist wording to regular English:

  • Cut taxes for the rich
  • Cut regulations that protect consumers, employees and the environment
  • Cut spending on the things We, the People (government) do for each other, including spending on infrastructure and education
  • Get rid of unions
  • More trade agreements to increase offshoring
  • Unleash oil companies to do whatever they want, including more unregulated drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
  • Block citizen access to courts for redress when corporations harm them
  • Unleash big insurance companies and block states from regulating them
  • Compare the specific detailed set of bills offered in the Make It In America plan with the Seven-Point-Plan offered by Senate Republicans. Seriously, click through and read the Republican "plan." And check the link to see for yourself that it really isn't another parody put out by the Onion.

    Make It A Movement

    The Hill's Brent Budowsky, in Made in 
the USA, says we need a Make It In America movement,

    Let’s begin a national wave movement for Americans to buy American products, sold by American companies, made by American workers, to create American jobs and lift the American economy.

    Tired of high unemployment, exported jobs, big deficits and low wages? Here is the answer. Let’s kick some butt, take some names, wave some flag and rise as a nation to buy some products made by red, white and blue American workers!

    Throughout the land there is a fervent patriotism waiting to be tapped and a patriotic capitalism waiting to be born to lift the nation and mobilize Americans, from Tea Party voters to union workers, from the inner-city poor to rural America, from small businesses to American women and our veteran heroes.

    Click through to read the rest -- some of the comments are great, too.

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