SCHUMER ANNOUNCES LEGISLATION TO ESTABLISH FIRST-EVER NAT’L NETWORK OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING HUBS HAS PASSED CONGRESS – URGES PRESIDENT TO SIGN-OFF; NETWORK COULD BOOST MANUFACTURING INNOVATION IN UPSTATE NY, A PRIME CANDIDATE FOR ONE OF 15 HUBS
Schumer Urged Colleagues To Include This Legislation In Omnibus Bill In Order To Make Bill Happen This Congress – New Manufacturing Hubs Could Help Develop New Companies & Commercial Products and Create Hundreds of Jobs
Schumer: Upstate NY Cities Will Be Ideal Candidates for New Center of Advanced Manufacturing
Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the Omnibus spending bill including Schumer-sponsored legislation that would create the first-ever national network of manufacturing hubs has passed in both the House and Senate. The bill has cleared Congress and will head to the President’s desk for his final signature. Schumer said cities across Upstate New York will now be prime candidates for one of these new hubs. The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), called the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act(RAMI) will establish a National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) and create thousands of high-paying, high-tech manufacturing jobs while enhancing the United States’ role as the world’s leader in advanced manufacturing. RAMI will now be able to bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and all levels of government, to accelerate manufacturing innovation in technologies with commercial applications.
“Upstate New York deserves the chance to lead the nation in high-tech manufacturing, and this first-ever legislation to create 15 manufacturing hubs will now do just that,” said Senator Schumer. “I pushed to make sure this legislation was considered before the end of this Congress because I knew it had the potential to transform cities in Upstate New York, which have a storied history and promising future in high-tech research, innovation and manufacturing. This legislation will now open up the potential to bring one of these new manufacturing hubs to New York and I will fight tooth and nail on behalf of Upstate NY.”
As part of his budget for fiscal year 2013, President Obama recommended investing $1 billion to create a network of 15 manufacturing hubs called Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMI). While an initial pilot hub center was opened in Ohio in 2012, and President Obama indicated his desire to create three additional pilot centers on an interim basis funded through the Energy and Defense Departments, ultimately the President urged Congress in his State of the Union Address that year to pass legislation authorizing the full network of centers. Schumer worked with Senators Brown and Blunt to develop the first-ever legislation to create these unique manufacturing hubs – each intended to specialize in its own specific technology.
The goal of this investment is to more closely connect research and development activities to the utilization of technological innovations in American manufacturing. Schumer shares the President’s vision for a concrete plan that trains American workers for high-tech manufacturing jobs and creates incentives to keep jobs in the United States. In his State of the Union address, the President expressed his commitment to partner with businesses with the goal of investing in American-made technologies and American workers.
RAMI would bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal agencies, and all levels of government, to accelerate manufacturing innovation in technologies with commercial applications. These public-private institutes would leverage resources to bridge the gap between basic research and product development. Each Institute will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, providing the innovation infrastructure to support regional manufacturing and ensuring that our manufacturing sector is a key pillar in an economy that is built to last. This model has been successfully deployed in other countries and would address a gap in the U.S. manufacturing innovation infrastructure. Schumer noted that there are several public-private partnerships in Upstate New York that would vie for this nationwide manufacturing designation.
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