In this series of blog posts, Senator Coons’ legislative staff shares their analysis of the President’s State of the Union address with Delawareans.
In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama said that while “our economy is adding jobs…too many people still can’t find full-time employment.”
Senator Coons agrees, which is why he has been working closely with Delaware businesses to find innovative ways to help them grow and create jobs, even in a tough economy. Along with the other members of the Delaware Congressional delegation, he hosted nine job fairs in two years, connecting employers ready to hire with 10,000 Delaware job seekers
Chris believes more must be done to support and sustain American innovators—especially in the manufacturing sector. If we want to stay competitive in a global economy, we have to invest in job training programs and policies that create cutting-edge, high-quality jobs.
In his address, President Obama noted that our manufacturing sector has added about 500,000 jobs over the past three years and announced three new “manufacturing hubs,” while challenging Congress to create a network of fifteen of these hubs to “guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is Made in America.”
Chris has worked hard on incentivizing the growth of America’s advanced manufacturing sector and has urged Congress to pursue policies support the growth of high-tech and clean energy manufacturing in America.
He has met with Delaware manufacturers and turned their ideas into legislative action, building bipartisan support for new tax credits to support local manufacturers and ensure quality products are “Made in America, Manufactured in Delaware.”
For example, Chris introduced the Startup Innovation Credit, a bipartisan bill that would allow innovative startup companies to take advantage of the successful Research and Development Tax Credit. He is also an original cosponsor of the Bring Jobs Home Act, which offers tax credits from companies that relocate their manufacturing operations from abroad back to the United States.
Dredging Today published a Q&A on Tuesday highlighting Senator Chris Coons’ thoughts on the job-creating potential of the Delaware River dredging project currently underway.
We are already seeing signs of job creation and growth as a result of the Delaware River dredging project. I have heard from businesses, labor leaders and private equity companies that they see the Port of Wilmington and the other ports on the Delaware River as perfectly situated to handle more cargo and take advantage of their proximity to major population centers on the East Coast. With the completion of the 45’ channel in the Delaware River, we will see tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs created as ports are expanded, cargo volume increases and people are hired to handle every downstream aspect of what comes in and what goes out.
Senator Coons will join the leadership of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee for the next Congress, leading efforts to help Democratic senators better engage with business leaders across the country.
The Steering and Outreach Committee is what's known as a "leadership committee" and exists effectively to strengthen the engagement between individual Democratic senators and community leaders."Engaging directly with community leaders gives senators the opportunity to thoughtfully exchange ideas, hear concerns, and collaborate on our nation's policy priorities," Senator Coons said. "Building bridges is what the Steering and Outreach Committee is all about, and I'm honored to be asked to play a role in shaping the direction of the committee in the next Congress. Businesses play an important role in our economy, and at this critical time in our economic recovery, we need to continue to work with business leaders to help them create jobs and strengthen our communities. I look forward to making the most of this opportunity and helping our caucus continue to engage constructively and productively with the business community."
This week, the Steering Committee hosted 14 leaders from the labor movement for a frank discussion with senators about job creation and the fiscal cliff. In September there were separate meetings with LGBT leaders on the state of the equality movement and housing leaders on mortgage refinancing, affordable housing, and financial literacy. There have been quite a few meetings with business leaders about job creation.
Senator Coons spoke Wednesday at the first annual New Castle County Economic Development Luncheon. The lunch discussion focused on ways to foster and develop a strong economic and entrepreneurial system in New Castle County and across Delaware.
Chris reiterated his commitment to Delaware startups, noting that new businesses are powerful drivers of job creation and economic recovery. Over a 25 year period between 1980 and 2005, most of the net new jobs in America – about 40 million jobs – were created by firms that were five years old or less.
Since he arrived in the Senate, Chris has used his private sector experience to shape a number of job creating pieces of legislation that support innovative startups and entrepreneurs. He has especially focused on making the Research and Development Tax Credit available to newer businesses, in addition to more established companies.
To read more about Chris’ work supporting job creation and economic competitiveness, click here.
Last week, Senator Coons took part in a launch celebration unveiling the new Horn Program in Entrepreneurship at UD.
Made possible by a generous gift from Charles and Patricia Horn, this program will encourage students to pursue the kind of entrepreneurial ideas that will power Delaware’s economy for years to come.
The Horn program will enhance and expand entrepreneurial studies at UD and be made up of a variety of initiatives like the Venture Development Center, a student business incubator, Hen Hatch, UD’s premier startup funding competition and an annual President’s Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It will also support new curricular offerings at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Chris believes that supporting our innovators and entrepreneurs is critical to our economic recovery.
To read more about his work to create jobs and promote American economic competitiveness, click here.
The most important responsibility I have as your senator is to support job creation. Our economy is starting to recover, but there are still far too many Delawareans out of work. That is why we are continuing to host job fairs across the state, connecting job seekers with employers ready to hire, and working to help Delaware businesses access the capital they need to grow and create new jobs.
One of the keys to fueling American economic growth and ensuring we remain competitive in the global economy is putting in place policies that support and sustain innovation. American ingenuity has always been at the core of our economic success. From inventing the light bulb to perfecting the search engine, we have never lacked good ideas. The challenges of the global economy may be new, but America’s advantage – our entrepreneurs and innovators – remains the same. We just have to support their work so they can continue to grow and create jobs.
Over the last few months, I’ve partnered with Republicans and Democrats alike to introduce legislation that will support our most innovative companies – the ones with the highest job-creation potential.
Watching cable news, it would be easy to think the Senate is stuck in partisan gridlock, and to an extent, that is true. Yet there are also decent people of both parties who want to get things done, especially when it comes to our economy. To those of us in Delaware, that is the rule, rather than the exception, but unfortunately, Washington doesn’t always work the same way.
That is why I was so glad to find partners like Senator Marco Rubio from Florida and Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas. They are both conservative Republicans, but I’ve worked with them and Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, on a series of job-creation proposals we bundled together in a bill called the Startup Act 2.0.
The Startup Act 2.0 is designed to promote innovation and jumpstart the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses and jobs. It is based on research showing that for almost 30 years, companies less than five years old have created almost all the net new jobs in America – at an average of about three million new jobs a year. So we pulled together ideas that help bring university research from the lab to the marketplace, ideas that encourage investments in new startup companies and more in the hopes of creating an environment where entrepreneurs can succeed.
Our bill contains an array of job-creating measures for small businesses, such as exempting capital gains taxes on investments in startups, which the independent Kauffman Foundation tells us would unlock $7.5 billion of new investment. It also supports innovative small businesses with an expanded research and development tax credit, an idea Senator Rubio and I introduced together last fall as part of our bipartisan AGREE Act and something I will continue fighting to pass because it is critical for Delaware small business.
With the right resources, American products can be manufactured in Delaware and remain competitive in the global marketplace. It is happening every day across our state, at companies of all sizes, including Miller Metal in Bridgeville, a local shop that is going head-to-head with Chinese metal fabricators – and winning.
We have to continue to support this kind of entrepreneurship and innovation in all sectors of our economy, including in the energy sector. There is going to be a clean energy economy in the years ahead, the only question is whether American businesses, families and workers will be at the center or the periphery. If we want to stay competitive in the race for homegrown, affordable, renewable sources of energy, we have to make sure our financial innovation keeps up with our technological innovation.
That is why this spring, I introduced bipartisan legislation to level the playing field and make a tax credit that has long supported oil and gas projects available to renewable energy projects like wind, solar and biofuels. The bill I wrote with Senator Moran, the Master Limited Partnership Parity Act, could bring significant capital off the sidelines to give clean energy innovators and projects the critical private sector support they need to get their product to the marketplace.
The bottom line is that America’s researchers, business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs are already working to help create jobs and ensure American competitiveness in the global economy. We just have to support and sustain their hard work, and we cannot take the rest of the year off just because there’s an election coming up. Even in this difficult, partisan atmosphere, we have to find ways to work together and get things done. Innovation will drive American economic competitiveness for generations to come, and our job is to help our innovators and entrepreneurs do their jobs.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) took to the Senate floor on Wednesday morning to urge his Senate colleagues to stand together to help U.S. companies “insource” jobs by passing the Bring Jobs Home Act. The legislation, which Senator Coons is an original cosponsor of, ends taxpayer subsidies to companies that ship jobs overseas and incentivizes companies to bring jobs back to the United States. The bill is expected to be voted on by the full Senate on Thursday.
WASHINGTON –Senator Coons participated in a roundtable discussion for ways of duplicating the success of innovative, job-creating American businesses in the Capitol on Wednesday. The meeting was hosted by the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee and featured representatives from more than 15 companies, including Patrick Owens, president of ILC Dover, and Marty Miller, CEO of Miller Metal in Bridgeville.
“As our nation lifts itself out of this recession, we should turn for guidance to companies that are strengthening our economy and creating jobs,” Chris said. “These past few years have really taken its toll on Delaware’s economy with the closing of several key businesses around the state; however, there are several small companies in Delaware that have been successful. I was honored to invite Patrick Owens and Marty Miller to join today’s meeting and appreciate their input on how the federal government can help businesses grow. I look forward to keeping an open line of communication with them and other Delaware businesses leaders so we can work in partnership to strengthen our state’s economy and get more Delawareans back to work.”
Mr. Miller said during the meeting that thanks to a Small Business Administration loan and assistance from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), Miller Metal was able to purchase a laser cutter: the laser and the MEP have helped Miller Metal increase its workforce from 30 employees to 75.
The Senator has made job creation a top priority for his time in the Senate. Most recently, he joined on as an original cosponsored of the Bring Jobs Home Act which would end taxpayer subsidies to companies that ship jobs overseas and incentivizes companies to bring jobs back to the United States.
In an effort at bipartisanship, in May, he joined with U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) in introducing the Startup Act 2.0, which is designed to promote innovation and jumpstart the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses and jobs.
WILMINGTON, Del. – A job fair hosted by U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and U.S. Representative John Carney on Monday drew more than 2,600 job seekers who came to meet with 100 employers at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Combined, the employers were hiring for more than 1,700 open positions.
“The job fairs we’ve hosted up and down the state are about changing lives by helping get our neighbors back to work,” Chris said. “Things are starting to get better in our state and our country, and I think the fact that 100 employers came out today to hire for more than 1,700 open positions is a sign of that. Our goal for this and for each of our job fairs has been to help Delawareans access these new opportunities and resources for getting a job, and I’m optimistic that today’s job fair did that. I can’t wait to hear from our neighbors who found a job today, and remain fiercely committed to helping the Delawareans who weren't so fortunate.”
In 2012, the Congressional delegation hosted three jobs fairs across Delaware—one in each county—with a combined total of more than 4,000 job seekers attending. Last year’s job fairs—also held in each county—attracted more than 4,900 people looking for work.
Today, Senator Coons joined more than half dozen of his Senate colleagues in calling for immediate passage of a transportation bill that could save or create nearly three million jobs.
Legislation supporting critical investments in America’s roads and bridges is set to expire at the end of this month. The Senate has already passed a long-term extension of the bill, which Chris strongly supported because it makes the kind of sensible, predictable investments that companies need to hire new workers. . The Senate version was crafted and passed with strong bipartisan support, but a more partisan version passed the House. At today’s event, Senator Coons and his colleagues made clear that jobs depend on the Senate version being signed into law.
“In times like these, our economy depends on efficient transit,” Chris said. “In order to hire, companies need certainty, reliability, predictability. The Senate-passed bill provides that certainty that allows companies to hire new crews.”
Senator Coons was joined at Wednesday’s event by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
To learn more about Chris’ work on transportation, click here.
