Congressman tries again to promote innovation to fight against global competition

      The proposal, the Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act (H.R. 255), would provide technical extension services to small- and medium-sized manufacturers, said Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids. The bill is essentially identical to legislation he introduced in the 108^th and 109^th Congresses. The legislation twice stalled in the Senate after being approved by the full House of Representatives in July 2004 and September 2005.

      “The U.S. manufacturing sector, which is a cornerstone of the American economy, remains the target of competition from abroad,” Ehlers said. “This bill will help address long-term problems facing our nation’s manufacturers by coordinating existing federal manufacturing programs, creating a new program to revive manufacturing innovation through collaborative research and development, and broadening and strengthening manufacturing extension programs.”

      Ehlers said the bill will provide a structure for better coordination between federal manufacturing R&D programs; strengthen the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program; establish a collaborative grants program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support innovation; and create a fellowship program at NIST to cultivate greater U.S. expertise in the manufacturing sciences.

      The legislation also would reauthorize the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program with a total of $375 million of funding over three years, with a mechanism for review of MEP centers. The bill also creates an additional collaborative grant program to encourage partnerships among industry, educational institutions and local organizations on manufacturing-related projects.