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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2004

SCHUMER BLASTS WHITE HOUSE MOVE TO NAME A MANUFACTURING CZAR WHO IS SHIPPING JOBS OVERSEAS

Senator urges White House to set date for naming manufacturing post unveiled on Labor Day and to explain the inexplicable six month delay in filling the job

2.8 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since the beginning of the Bush Administration; No private sector jobs were created last month

US Senator Charles Schumer, Jon Corzine, Debbie Stabenow and others today urged the President to set a date certain for naming the manufacturing czar position he announced last Labor Day and will ask the White House to explain why it is taking six months to fill the job.

"This White House is so bad at jobs, it can't even fill the one it's created," Schumer said. "It's becoming increasingly clear that the White House economic ship is going further and further out to sea and is in serious need of a rudder. The country is hemmoraging jobs at an alarming rate and the Administration's inability to take the small step of getting someone in place capable of devising policies to stop that export is a major problem."

Responding to mounting criticism about its efforts to do something about manufacturing job losses, the President used the Labor Day holiday last September to announce the creation of a new position in the Commerce Department – assistant secretary of Commerce for manufacturing. The position, which turned out to be part of a reorganization of the Commerce Department aimed at eliminating the post of assistant secretary for trade development, has been left vacant for the last six months.

The White House was reportedly planning a news conference today to announce that Tony Raimondo, chairman and CEO of the Behlen Manufacturing Group would be named assistant secretary of commerce for manufacturing and charged with crafting policies aimed at helping the struggling manufacturing sector. That press conference, however, was put on hold apparently, after it was discovered that Behlen has laid off 75 of its US workers and is building a $3 million factory in China.

More than 2.8 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since the Bush Adminsitration came into office. Last month alone, another 3,000 manufacturing jobs were lost, bringing manufacturing employment to a 53-year low.

In a letter being sent to the White House today, Schumer wrote, "Mr. President, in a country of successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople, the Administration should be able to find at least one person who has a proven track record of creating and keeping jobs here in the United States. The Administration has had six months to choose a serious candidate for this position, but does not appear to have done so."

A copy of Schumer's letter is attached.

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