Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In an effort to overcome continuing supply chain initiatives and to bolster manufacturing jobs, U.S. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand was in Buffalo Thursday to announce the bipartisan 'Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act'.
Gillibrand was inside the expansive Northland Workforce Training Center for the announcement Thursday morning.
The Act incentivizes private-public partnerships by empowering the Secretary of Commerce to designate consortiums as "Manufacturing Communities," which would be eligible for federal financial and technical assistance designed to expand and support domestic manufacturing. The bill would help strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base, encourage domestic public-private partnerships, and help local businesses cut through bureaucratic red tape to address ongoing pandemic-related supply chain disruptions that continue plaguing local economies.
"We need to take action in order to keep pace with the growing demand and ensure that we are not beholden to the international supply chain," said Gillibrand. The legislation, says Gillibrand, will help create good paying jobs while also stabilizing supply chain issues. "I believe that the best way to build up our economy is to build it here in America."
Nobody knows the challenges the local manufacturing community faces better than the man who heads up the Northland Workforce Training Center in Buffalo, a facility that trains workers to fill a growing number of skilled job openings in the region.
"We are projecting the need to fill about 20 thousand job openings in the next ten years," said President and CEO of Northland Workforce Training Center Stephen Tucker. "Our manufacturing partners state that they have 3 thousand job openings that go unfilled everyday due to the lack of a qualified worker."
In addition to Gillibrand, the Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act is supported by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Jerry Moran (R-KS).
The bipartisan bill is endorsed by the American Small Manufacturers Coalition, National Association of Development Organizations, National Association of Counties, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, National Tooling and Machining Association, North American Die Casting Association, Precision Machined Products Association, Precision Metalforming Association, and the National Skills Coalition.
